"I've nothing to hide" - Broun
December 21, 2000

Former Springbok media officer Alex Broun has hit out at Sarfu chief executive Rian Oberholzer for laying a charge of theft against him, saying he didn't have anything to do with the missing Mallett tapes and had nothing to hide.

Broun's Camps Bay home was raided by police and officials from the Department of Home Affairs on Tuesday, who were looking for the recordings of former Bok coach Nick Mallett's disciplinary hearing that disappeared on October 2.

Police captain Rod Beer confirmed on Wednesday that no tapes or other evidence had been found and that Broun had not been charged with theft.

Broun expressed his disappointment with proceedings on Wednesday and confirmed that he had nothing to do with the tapes going missing. "I've got nothing whatsoever to hide," he told the Cape Times. "I certainly never had any tapes. If I did know where they were, I would tell the police straight away.

"I'm not angry, but I'm disappointed. Surely the police have more important things to worry about. They should be going after rapists and murderers," he said.

He confirmed he had no idea what was on the tapes, but said it must be some "great stuff" if Sarfu were "so desperate to hide something". "I don't understand why the tapes are so important to them. They must be very interesting. Why are they going through so much trouble if there's nothing on the tapes? There must be great stuff on the tapes," he said.

The bad blood between Broun and Sarfu, and in particular Oberholzer, stems back to August this year when Mallett told an undercover journalist that Test ticket prices were to high. The coach was hauled before a disciplinary hearing, while the media officer was charged with gross misconduct for allegedly "lying" about the incident.

Broun at first told Oberholzer he didn't believe Mallett spoke to a journalist about the issue, but later said that the coach had made the comments to an undercover journalist. Sarfu immediately started with disciplinary proceedings against Broun, but he resigned and nothing came from it.

At present, Broun is considering various job offers across the world, including one with a local sports group. "There are some South Africans I really want to work with. I get along with the people in Sarfu, just not with Oberholzer," he said.

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