Deanw
28th Jan 2005, 06:48
sabcnews:
Five-year debt recovery battle ends in plane seizure
January 27, 2005
A five-year battle to recover a multi-million rand debt that began in Namibia has led to the seizure of an Angolan passenger plane at the Johannesburg International Airport. More than 250 passengers are stranded after police seized the Boeing 747 from the Angolan state airline, TAAG.
The aircraft was seized following a South African civil court order. Joaquim Augusto, a South African citizen of Portuguese origin, alleges in court papers that a government-owned Angolan company - Sociedade de Angola De Comercio Internacional - owes him R3 million. Augusto was the pilot of a plane that crashed in Jamba with the son of Mario Soares, a former Portuguese president, on board at the height of the Angolan civil war.
The initial instruction for payment of the R3 million to be paid to Augusto came from a Namibian court in 1999.
Augusto, who resides in Johannesburg, says he had no choice, but to take the matter to a South African court who ruled that the money be paid over or the plane be seized.
Five-year debt recovery battle ends in plane seizure
January 27, 2005
A five-year battle to recover a multi-million rand debt that began in Namibia has led to the seizure of an Angolan passenger plane at the Johannesburg International Airport. More than 250 passengers are stranded after police seized the Boeing 747 from the Angolan state airline, TAAG.
The aircraft was seized following a South African civil court order. Joaquim Augusto, a South African citizen of Portuguese origin, alleges in court papers that a government-owned Angolan company - Sociedade de Angola De Comercio Internacional - owes him R3 million. Augusto was the pilot of a plane that crashed in Jamba with the son of Mario Soares, a former Portuguese president, on board at the height of the Angolan civil war.
The initial instruction for payment of the R3 million to be paid to Augusto came from a Namibian court in 1999.
Augusto, who resides in Johannesburg, says he had no choice, but to take the matter to a South African court who ruled that the money be paid over or the plane be seized.