Parliament turns down Yengeni request on legal fees
Publish date: 14 December 2006
Issue Number: 1728
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Corruption
Former ANC Chief Whip Tony Yengeni has had his bid to get Parliament to pay the costs of his planned Constitutional Court challenge to his fraud conviction turned down.
According to a report in The Mercury, Parliaments spokesperson, Luzuko Jacobs, said yesterday that the institution was not in a position to assist Yengeni financially, nor was it able to refer the matter to the State Attorney on his behalf. Parliament can only pay (the) legal funds of a member who was acting within the scope of his duty, said Jacobs. Parliament does not feel it can be vicariously liable for Mr Yengenis actions. Yengenis lawyer, Themba Langa, is basing the legal bid on a defunct law Section 58 of the Powers and Privileges Act of 1963, which grants MPs immunity from civil or criminal proceedings, arrest, imprisonment or damages. Langa said Yengeni was convicted before this Act was repealed in 2004. He said in the letter to Parliament that Yengenis conviction was unconstitutional because the now defunct Act had been in force at the time of the fraudulent deal. The Mercury report not available online
