Hoorzook lychmob’s hue and cry dies down as FATF upgrades SA on grey list

Alameen Templeton
South Africa’s mainstream media mysteriously lost their crazed lynchmob tendencies about Ziyadh Hoorzook’s R11 500 donation to a Syrian charity organisation as soon as Muslim media blew their CIA playbook out of the water.
Funny, isn’t it, how an issue rises and falls on their radars? The red “MUSLIM TERROR” light isn’t flashing any more, but don’t think it has gone away.
Just a month ago they were agonising over the implications of South Africa’s links to international terrorism. Sandton resident Hoorzook was being battered and buttered for a full roasting ahead of his bail application.
Blarney and bluster
“Police say they have a water-tight case,” we were told confidently; Hoorzook’s guilt was obvious and hundreds of billions of rands in future investments were dependent on the court making the obvious ruling about his R11 500 donation.
Instead, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the weekend upgraded South Africa, ruling it had raised its compliance with 22 “action items” from 16 in September to 20 now.
The two outstanding items show the FATF is still on Hoorzook’s case, continuing to dangle the lynchmob hook.
“South Africa should demonstrate a sustained increase in the effective identification, investigation and prosecution of the full range of TF activities, consistent with its TF risk profile,” the FATF says in its latest assessment released at the weekend at the conclusion of its annual plenary.
“Since February 2023, when South Africa made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and ESAAMLG [Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group] to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime, South Africa has taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime including by demonstrating that all supervisors apply effective, proportionate, and effective sanctions, ensuring competent authorities have timely access to accurate and up-to-date BO [beneficial ownership] information on legal persons and arrangements and applying sanctions for breaches of violation by legal persons to beneficial ownership obligations.
“South Africa should continue to work on implementing its Action Plan to address its remaining strategic deficiency on demonstrating a sustained increase in investigations and prosecutions of serious and complex money laundering and the full range of TF [terrorist-financing] activities in line with its risk profile,” the FATF said.
Dangling the bait
If South Africa manages to address or largely address both action items to the FATF’s satisfaction by June, it will be a position to be considered for removal from the grey list in October.
Hoorzook’s trial may have progressed a little more by then, but most legal commentators are pouring cold water over the statements by the National Prosecuting Authority that Hoorzook was plainly and obviously guilty.
Many mainstream media outlets have called for his judgement and imprisonment as soon as possible, warning ominously that billions of dollars in investment opportunities were dependent on it.
But a closer look at his case has revealed many holes in the prosecution’s case, particularly as many organisations calling themselves “jihadi” have received assistance from Western countries to bring down the Bashar al-Assad regime.
As we have learned, today’s jihadi could be tomorrow’s terrorist and national leader accepting diplomatic credentials.
It’s bedevilling the FATF’s monitoring and classification of what exactly constitutes “TF”, or terrorism finance and has its experts scratching their heads. It’s easy, in such a complicated world, for ordinary people to get confused and for their lawyers to fashion a reasonable-doubt defence.
On Friday, National Treasury said the FATF’s decision hold in abeyance these two action items shows that they are “the most demanding goals”, particularly because a country is required to demonstrate that the improvements made are sustained over successive reporting periods.
Talking up their book
“Our investigation and prosecution teams are working closely in terms of a prosecution-guided investigation strategy to ensure that we demonstrate the sustained progress as required by FATF. These improvements are critical not just for getting off the grey list but, critically, for strengthening the fight against crime and corruption,” the statement said.
That need to find a conviction may also help Hoorzook who could argue he’s being railroaded to an end-of-line conviction that runs along one track only – “guilty, guilty, guilty”.
“These improvements are necessary not just for getting off the greylist, but, critically, for strengthening the fight against crime and corruption,” Treasury said.
Billions of rands were spent on the State Capture Commission, resulting in almost no arrests, so hopefully the “strengthened” fight against crime and corruption is about to show an improvement in this regard.
Treasury welcomed the efforts of financial and non-financial regulators and beneficial ownership registries and its law enforcement users in securing upgrades for the four action items they were directly responsible for in the current reporting cycle.
A tip for Treasury
Treasury should also thank Markaz Sahaba that identified some possible US terrorists, armed, dangerous and at large in Mpumalanga where they use former Special Ops mercenaries from America and Britain supposedly as “game rangers”.
If the NPA turned its detective magnifying glass on those guys, we are sure they’ll find far more evidence of “terrorism” in the Lowveld bush than on Hoorzook’s laptop.