SOUTH AFRICA: DR ALLAN BOESAK MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES скачать в хорошем качестве

SOUTH AFRICA: DR ALLAN BOESAK MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES

(8 Feb 1995) English/Nat The prominent anti-apartheid activist Dr Allan Boesak could be facing criminal charges over claims that he's misappropriated over 500-hundred thousand dollars (US) from aid to charities he runs. Dr Boesak's denies the charges and says the investigation mounted by donors to his charities is one-sided. In Oxford, England Boesak's fellow anti- apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who asked police to investigate the charges, told APTV he was saddened by the allegations. Today (Wednesday) Dr Boesak had a two-hour meeting with the DanChurch representatives where he was presented with the report that detailed his alleged fraud. At his home Boesak held a long-awaited news conference, in which he condemned the investigation as a sham and a farce. Boesak says he will meet President Nelson Mandela and called on him to hand the Danish report over to an independent assessor of his choice and to hold an a public inquiry into the matter. Mandela has suspended Boesak's ambassadorship to the U-N in Geneva pending the outcome of the inquiry. Boesak categorically stated today that he has never stolen any funds. SOUNDBITE: "I suppose I will have to take legal advice as to what course of action I will take. I can just say to you that I will have to do everything in my power to restore my reputation to salvage my good name. I have said it before, I have said so to the investigating team, I have not stolen any money." SUPER CAPTION: Dr Allan Boesak, Claiming he had already been tried and convicted by the media, Boesak says DanChurch Aid has violated agreements not to go public on the report, which he roundly condemned. SOUNDBITE: "The lawyers make it very clear to me that this report they find pathetic, pitiful and generally not even worth the paper it is written on." SUPER CAPTION: Dr Allan Boesak, Boesak has promised to hold regular press conferences to explain his position. Meanwhile in Oxford Archbishop Desmond Tutu a long-time ally of Boesak's told APTV he's asked police to investigate the affair because police would have more confidence in their report. SOUNDBITE: Well of course I mean the whole business is a shambles and one of the reasons why we thought we should make a clean cut was that if there was nothing untoward and the police found that to be the case, then people would believe this. Whereas if we were to set up an independent inquiry of our own and there was all the suspicion around and we were to say it clears everybody, I doubt there would be a great deal of credibility." SUPER CAPTION: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. However, Tutu admits he finds the allegations disturbing. SOUNDBITE: He is saying and I have no reason not to believe him, I am very deeply fond of Dr Boesak and I mean he's done a tremendous tremendous amount in the struggle against apartheid and when he says he wouldn't have known about the details of what was happening, he had left it in the hands of his administrator, I would be inclined to believe him until the contrary is proven beyond every shadow of doubt. And I just...it's deeply distressing, it's really distressing because the enemies of our struggle are going to be gloating. SUPER CAPTION: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town If Boesak is found guilty the Nobel prize-winning archbishop's reputation could also be sullied. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...