ID President Patricia de Lille has called convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik's release from jail on parole ‘disgusting' and says the ID wants to see ‘a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding his release.'

De Lille has also accused Jacob Zuma and the ANC of ‘political interference.'

‘What about the thousands of other prisoners that were never fairly assessed by the parole boards, even though some of them were in the final stages of terminal illness? Shaik has been given preferential treatment throughout his sentence and his early release is the final proof of that,' Ms De Lille says.

‘It is completely disgusting that there is such scant regard for procedures and the law in our country when a criminal has connections to high profile politicians.

‘The point is that Shaik was not even released from jail, he was released from the hospital where he has served most of his sentence,' says De Lille.

‘In a country where we are already struggling with such a high crime rate this sends out the wrong message entirely. In effect, what we are saying is that we are not all equal before the law.

‘We in the Independent Democrats would like to know how many prisoners have had far worse ailments than Shaik's high blood pressure, depression and chest pains, but have continued to serve out their sentences,' De Lille says.

‘The whole point of prison is rehabilitation, but the ID has serious doubts that you can rehabilitate someone found guilty of such serious crimes, in such a short period of time.

‘Corruption steals from the poor and compromises service delivery. The Arms Deal is continuing to wreak havoc on our democracy because of the ANC's failure to come clean,' says De Lille.

‘The ruling party is once again undermining the judiciary by not accepting or respecting the sentence handed down by a court of law, which fitted the crimes committed by Shaik.'

Statement issued by the Independent Democrats, March 3 2009