South Africa has issued its first court order under section 23 of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (POCDATARA Act), which deals with freezing terrorist-related property. This is the first such order since the 2022 amendment of the POCDATARA Act.
The Johannesburg High Court issued the order against two individuals and two entities, citing reasonable grounds “to believe that they have committed, participated in or facilitated the commission of the offence of terrorism” which is a specified offence as defined in the POCDATARA Act.
The persons identified in the court order are Abdirizak Mohamed Abdi Jimale and Bashir Abdi Hassan while the entities are Almisbaax Pty Ltd (previously known as Heeryo Trading Enterprise Pty Ltd) registered in South Africa, and Heeryo Trading Enterprise registered in Somalia.
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has advised accountable institutions to take note of the contents of the court order and immediately apply a ‘freeze’ on the property of these designated persons under the POCDATARA Act and comply with the reporting requirements in terms of section 28A of the FIC Act. Accountable institutions must use the information from the court order to scrutinise against client information, apply freezes where matches are found and file terrorist property reports to the FIC. These measures aim to prevent the financing of terrorism.
Click here to read the court order.
Click here to read the FIC Media Release.