Special Hearings — Chemical And Biological Warfare Hearings — 1998-06-08

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: I think we have to go back to the circumstances that led a Belgian citizen get involved in this process.  When I was here in South Africa for the three first years I was hired by a Belgian banker to set up a factory in Uitenhage and that's my job.  I am a project manager, I am an entrepreneur.  I did that with the technology, I am an expert in transfer of technology, I did that with Belgian technology from a Belgian company.  That same company was involved in Belgian in the manufacturing of protective products for Nato forces for those 15 years.  So they had a great know-how and a nice range of product in that particular field.  Only protective products, the suits, the boots, the gloves etc.   As I was using their technology to set up a wide-width(?) PVC coating plant in Uitenhage the owner of that company in Belgian asked me, totally openly with the consent of the Belgian banker, to see if the military in South Africa needed these products.  And so I did.  Every time I was in Pretoria I visited them, Armscor, which was at the time right in the centre of Pretoria, and I tried to sell the product.
 I was always told that there was no need for such products in South Africa until in 1986 we were invited to witness in Jamba people, soldiers, who had been hurt by chemical weapons, or so we were told.  I am not a doctor.  But we did see some people who were hurt and we were shown and asked if we could help in bringing, in spite of sanctions, in bringing the technology to South Africa.
 And so it's circumstances, I believe, that have led, because of sanctions, this government to realise that there was somebody who had the technology available.  The Belgian company was totally supportive of going around sanctions because of the protective nature, and I say this because that's important, because for the first four years of this project it has never been mentioned, nor to the Belgians nor to myself, that there was anything else involved.  So we were manipulated in this of course.  
 And this is why I believe that even though it's not normal they allowed this, especially with the project being a secret project with Dr Basson being in charge of it, they allowed this situation to continue.
 Now one thing that wasn't supposed to happen is I wasn't supposed to buy Protechnic, Protechnic had nothing to do with me.  Protechnic was the institution that was organised by the military as I understood it, through Jan Lourens, to check that what I supplied or manufactured or traded, actually did give the right level of protection.  So when one day Medchem decided to sell that company to my great surprise I had very little choice.  We were totally involved in contracts.  We had this company that had the ability to manufacture, in small quantity, these chemicals that we needed for the tests, and it was frightening for me to realise, being in the middle of these contracts, that this company could go to anybody on the market.  
 And that situation was discussed a few times with the Surgeon General, to whom the - and actually initially I refused to buy it because it's very difficult for a businessman to go into an environment which is totally, totally, let's call it scientific, with scientists, okay, and take over a company with contracts that I had nothing to do with.  So I didn't want to buy it actually.  
 After a long process with my auditors, Kessel & Feinstein, we actually decided to buy it and immediately started trying to sell it back to the government, which we succeeded a year and a half later.  So these two things - so I actually bought Protechnic not to leave it outside of our sphere of influence and control and I immediately started approaching the Surgeon-General, and Armscor for them to buy it.  And two years later not only did I sell back Protechnic but Hazmat too, because Hazmat also, with the impregnation of activated charcoal that we were doing, was an integral part of that strategic arm that a country normally has within it's nationals, not with two Belgians and business people.

MR VALLY: Was Hazmat also a military front company?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Not at all.  Hazmat was one of the departments of Technotech who got so big that we decided to make a separate company, but it had nothing to do with - it was fully owned by myself.

MR VALLY: So Hazmat was making protective equipment and Protechnic was quality testing it?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: That's right, but that only lasted for a year and a half and - until Armscor bought it back and by that time our systems were extremely well developed, so I was not worried at all with proper control that things would go wrong there.  Remember that we had a double checking system with Belgian, and for instance, on the fabric of the suits we would cut our samples in two, always send one sample to Belgian to their lab, and one sample to Protechnic, and the conclusion of both was taken into consideration then to approve the suits.  Remember that these suits, they are still in stock, are - protects soldiers ...(indistinct) life, so there was no way any chances could be taken as far as that was concerned.   Hazmat did not only do that, they also impregnated activated charcoal, made the canisters for the mask, assembled the Huberin Suner(?) Swiss mask that was delivered to the military as a part of the protective gear.

MR VALLY: Just a few more questions.  The first one is, when you were taken to Jamba, that's in Angola.

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes.

MR VALLY: This was at the time when South African forces were still occupying Angola?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes.  Well I don't know if they were occupying it, but I mean we took an helicopter and we flew there.  So obviously there was some facilities of....

MR VALLY: The allegations regarding a chemical attack in Angola, were they also not publicised by a Belgian called Orben Hendriks?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: No that was after.  Professor Hendriks came after into this thing.  I think he was used by Brian Davies, Dr Brian Davies for further examination and publicity probably.  But that came after.  We were the first one to go.  Now I cannot tell you if what we saw were people who had been hurt by chemical gases.  I can't.  I am not a doctor, I am not a scientist.  But it never came to my mind that it wasn't, except since we have been discussing these issues recently.

MR VALLY: This Dr Hendriks who publicised claims of chemical attacks in Angola, he has been convicted of fraud in Belgian ...(intervention)

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes....

MR VALLY: Has he not?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes, absolutely.

MR VALLY: And of academic fraud as well?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Sorry?

MR VALLY: Of academic fraud?

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: I believe so, yes.

MR VALLY: I want to ask you about this binary weapon, this prototype.

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes.

MR VALLY: That was ordered via you.

CHARLES VAN REMOORTERE: Yes.

MR VALLY: Do you know who this Mombar(?) was?