MR MEYER
Thank you.  Mr Chairman, I don't think it's necessary for me to tell you that the basic two requirements for granting amnesty to the applicants are firstly
that they must make full disclosure and also they must have acted with a political motive.
	I think I want to address the Committee on the question of full disclosure first.  And it's my submission, Mr Chairman, that there was indeed full disclosure by the applicants.  And one point on which I would like to address you specifically is, and it's something that came up during the evidence of the applicants, is the discrepancies that exist between their written applications and their viva voce evidence.
	And in this regard, I would firstly like to submit that one has to remember, Mr Chairman, that the events which form part of this amnesty application or the subject of this application happened around 18 years ago and it's my submission that it would be difficult, if not impossible for the applicants to remember all the specific details of the acts which they committed.
	A second aspect or a second point I would like to make with regard to this is that the Committee must remember with respect that the applicants were all members and supporters of the previous regime and, it's my submission, Mr Chairman, that one has to take that into regard when one has a look at the written applications.  Although there was no direct evidence to this effect, it's my submission that this whole process which we are dealing with here is something that is strange to the applicants in the sense that they now have to come and tell and make full disclosure about everything which took place.
	And another point in this regard, Mr Chairman, is the fact that the written applications were made already quite a while ago in December 1997 and, it is so that after the written applications had been lodged that there was further consultations between the legal representatives and the applicants and also between the applicants themselves during which further details must have come to light and, that is also the reason why there are discrepancies between the written applications and the evidence which was adduced before the Committee.
	And then furthermore, Mr Chairman, and maybe the most important point in regard to this aspect is the fact that in my submission the Act does not require full disclosure in the written applications.  The Act just talks about full disclosure.  And in my submission, even if the Committee is to make a negative deduction from the fact that there are discrepancies between the written applications and the viva voce evidence, it is my submission that full disclosure was in any event made eventually by the applicants during their evidence before the Committee.