AfriForum accused by Swartz of interfering in NPA's prosecution

Swartz says he was called a swindler, among other things

- By Queenin Masuabi

Lobby group AfriForum is being accused by a Gauteng businessman of influencing the police to arrest him and pressuring court prosecutors to deny him bail.

Francois Swart, who is known as the "holiday swindler", is demanding a total of R5.5-million from AfriForum for his malicious arrest, damages and defamation.

Swart, also wants to act against the South African Police Service for their involvement in the matter.

Swart has made the damning allegations against AfriForum in a letter of demand sent to the organisation by his lawyers, Tracy Lamox of Tracy Lamox Attorneys on Thursday.

In the letter, which we have seen, Lamox demands AfriForum pay Swart R1-million for his unlawful detention, R50000 for unlawful arrest, R2-million for malicious prosecution and another R2-million for defamation.

In a letter dated April 3, Lamox accused the organisation of interfering in an investigation involving the failure of his travel company, Priority Escapes (Pty) Limited, to meet its obligations to some of its clients.

Priority Escape arranged a trip to the Maldives, and clients paid a booking fee to visit the country. However, the trip did not go ahead because the business went under liquidation. This meant that all clients were supposed to claim their refunds from the liquidator.

But Lamox said this did not happen, and instead, AfriForum decided to orchestrate his arrest and prosecution.