Iozzo case withdrawn as billionaire businessman vows to sue state
The criminal case against billionaire businessman Antonio Iozzo and two alleged accomplices accused of forging signatures and using fake documents to have three family trusts improperly removed from an umbrella investment trust has been withdrawn.
The case involves an ongoing feud between Iozzo and his older brother, Nicola, and former childhood friend Gregory Hutchinson.
In the latest case, Iozzo, Werner Roets, CFO of Iozzo’s Alpha Group, and attorney AJ van Rensburg were accused of fraud. The three, accompanied by their lawyers, handed themselves over to the Germiston police and were released on R50,000 bail each.
Iozzo is the founder and CEO of underwriting manager Alpha Insure, owner of the Body Action Gym, the rooftop restaurant and cocktail bar, 11th Floor, and Uber Property Developments.
On Tuesday, the case against them was withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority, with Iozzo now declaring his intention to “institute a substantial damages claim against the state for the extensive reputational and financial damage caused by the false and baseless statements published by SAPS”.
“The office of the director of public prosecutions conducted a full review of the original complaints laid by Nicola Iozzo and Gregory Hutchinson, together with the extensive documents and evidence I supplied. The outcome was unequivocal: the allegations against Werner, AJ and me were false and baseless. There was no evidence of wrongdoing by any of us,” Iozzo said shortly after the case was withdrawn.
He claimed the evidence that disproved the allegations against him had been provided to police at the beginning of the case, but they had “failed to properly consider or act on it”.
He said the charges should never have been allowed to proceed to court and that the SAPS was wrong to go public with news of the arrests — actions which Iozzo challenged by approaching the high court for an urgent interdict compelling the SAPS to withdraw the press release it had issued.
“The public places enormous trust in SAPS, and with that trust comes an enormous responsibility. When SAPS publicly accuses people of serious criminal wrongdoing, the public and the media are entitled to believe that those allegations have been properly checked, verified and supported by evidence. That is why what happened here is so serious,” Iozzo said, adding that he would pursue a damages claim as well as separate perjury complaints against his brother and Hutchinson.
He said Alpha had managed to continue operating normally and without interruption.
“From the beginning, I maintained that the evidence would establish the truth. It has,” he said.