Timmay From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 0 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 901 times:
who would have kept it?
from"The Star"
How did a gold bar, weighing 1kg and worth about R120 000, find its way into the car park at Sandton City?
That's the question that Ian and Marthie Kruger are asking themselves after finding one lying in the car park on Saturday morning.
The Krugers were about to walk from the car park to the shopping centre when Marthie tripped over the 1kg bar, which was lying behind their car.
Marthie picked it up and she and Ian mulled over their find - scratching the bar to check whether it was real.
"I also couldn't believe it, so I called my attorney, Daniel Fourie, for advice. He advised me to hand it over to Rand Refinery," Ian said.
He then played amateur sleuth and asked a security officer at Sandton City if there had been a robbery in the area, but the officer did not know.
Knowing that it was illegal for a member of the public to be in possession of a gold bar without a permit, the Krugers handed their fabulous find, which quite easily could have financed a new car, over to the refinery for safekeeping, and the police were informed.
But Ian has no regrets: "Now that I have handed over this precious metal, I feel relieved that I was honest to myself and the state."
Inspector George Seriteng of the Gold and Diamond Branch at Johannesburg Central police station said officers from his unit would probe the matter.
Forensic investigators would first have to determine whether the gold was genuine before trying to return it to its rightful owner. If no one was identified as the owner, the bar would be forfeited to the state.
"But nobody has reported missing gold so far," Seriteng said.
Galilee From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 866 times:
Couldn't you just chop it up into little nuggets, then sell'em off over aperiod of time? That away you get to keep the gold, but you are not breaking the law by being in possession of a "bar" without a permit.
Just kidding. Seriously, I am glad these people made sound and just decission.
LH423 From Canada, joined Jul 1999, 6501 posts, RR: 56 Reply 3, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 859 times:
You mean it's not finders-keepers? What the people did was right by turning it in, but if no one claims it, shouldn't the government at least pay them the cash equivalent for the bar? Methinks the South African government may have just scored themselves an extra R 120 000! Coz, if it was the governments to begin with, it sure as hell wouldn't have been found in the parking lot of a shopping centre!
LH423
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