Van Hoogstraten held on currency and porn charges

Published on Saturday 26 January 2008 19:47

BRITISH property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been arrested in Zimbabwe on currency and pornography charges.

Police raided the home of the 62-year-old – a vocal supporter of President Robert Mugabe – in the capital, Harare, following a tip-off that he received rent for houses, apartments and shops he owns in hard currency, state radio reported.

During the raid on Thursday, police found pornographic material featuring van Hoogstraten and a 22-year-old Zimbabwean woman, according to reports from the southern African country. The alleged offences carry the penalty of a fine and forfeiture of money.

Van Hoogstraten is said to have had about US$35,000 (17,700), small amounts of other hard currencies and 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars in cash – worth about US$5,000 (2,525) at the dominant illegal black market exchange rate.

The state Herald newspaper said van Hoogstraten owned more than 200 properties in Harare and the second city of Bulawayo.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted as saying informants had reported that van Hoogstraten demanded rent in hard currency, including six months' payment in advance.

He is to appear in court on charges under laws relating to illegal dealing in hard currency and censorship laws on possession of pornography.

Anglo-Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano, who was part of the team that in 2003 helped overturn van Hoogstraten's conviction in Britain for the manslaughter of a business rival, said: "I will go there at once if I am asked. I am sure he will have a lawyer there, but I would never abandon Nick van Hoogstraten.

"These things are dealt with by pecuniary sanctions. My feeling is that they target a big shot to send a message to the small people not to have dealings in currency – it's a way of managing a country's behaviour. I would not bet my pension that anything will come of this, but if anything does, I am ready, willing and able, as a friend of Nick, to help him."

Van Hoogstraten has extensive business and property interests in the southern African country and was quoted in a British newspaper two years ago as saying he had loaned $10m to Mugabe, a suggestion the Harare regime denied.

He has been embroiled in controversy in Britain over the death of his business rival Mohammed Raja, in 1999. Raja, 62, was in the process of suing van Hoogstraten over a business deal when he was stabbed and shot after answering the door at his home in Sutton, south London.

His killers, Robert Knapp and David Croke, were sentenced to life for murder – Croke was found hanged in his cell late last year.

Van Hoogstraten was sentenced to 10 years at the Old Bailey in 2002 for manslaughter, but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal.

However, in December, 2005, High Court judge Mr Justice Lightman ruled that van Hoogstraten recruited two "highly dangerous thugs" to murder Raja in order to halt the civil action Raja was bringing against him.

The ruling was central to a civil action being brought against van Hoogstraten by Raja's family, who are seeking more than 6m. The following June he was barred by the same judge from defending the claim against him.