Brawl over breathalyser

Chartered accountant Nicolaas van den Bergh has hauled the French government before the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town over what he says is a R244 million breach of contract to supply millions of breathalyser tests.

- Ciaran Ryan

In 2011, Cape Town-based Redline Products, of which Van den Bergh was a director and co-owner, was one of two producers in the world of alcohol breathalysers.

Papers before the court claim an oral agreement was concluded with the French government to supply at least 55 million breathalysers for 2012. It's taken this long to get the case in court.

The agreement was conditional on the French government passing decree 2012-284, which it did in 2012 during the tenure of then-president Nicolas Sarkozy. The decree imposed a fine of €11 (currently R212) on drivers who failed the breathalyser test.