The appellant, Maurice Alphonse Jacquesson, was the sole proprietor of Jacques Film Distributors. Between 1985 and 1987 he was involved in a large-scale fraudulent scheme that enabled more than R103 million to be exported from South Africa under false pretences. In September 1987 the Reserve Bank blocked the company’s accounts. In January 1988, shortly after his arrest on numerous fraud charges, the Reserve Bank ordered the attachment of funds standing to the credit of the business under the Exchange Control Regulations. Those funds were later transferred to the Corporation for Public Deposits. In September 1992 the appellant was convicted on 1 058 counts of fraud and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. In March 1994, after an audi alteram partem process, the attached funds (by then amounting to R2 861 651 including interest) were declared forfeit to the State under Regulation 22B and paid into the State Revenue Fund. Attempts to challenge the forfeiture were withdrawn or dismissed, including one dismissed on prescription. In May 2001 the appellant was granted amnesty under the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995 in respect of offences and delicts arising from the illegal export of capital during 1982–1987. Relying on that amnesty, he sought repayment of the forfeited funds from the Minister of Finance.