Cape Town — Convicted LeisureNet duo Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell had been taught a lesson "many times over" in various actions brought by the state, the Cape High Court was told yesterday.

Gardener and Mitchell are back in court to defend a state bid to recoup R10m for benefits they got from a German gym deal.

Francois van Zyl SC, who is representing the two men, asked whether a confiscation order would be appropriate, considering that the two had already paid about R29,5m to liquidators, and had received 12-year jail terms.

Van Zyl asked what purpose could be served with the imposition of additional punishment. He said Gardener and Mitchell "will leave prison as elderly men".

Judge Dirk Uijs, before reserving judgment yesterday, said a point he would have to decide was whether Gardener and Mitchell "had been punished enough".

The state seeks a confiscation order in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. In the case of Gardener, it wants repayment of between R466000 and R6,5m, while for Mitchell this ranges from R592000 to R3,2m.

The state says these amounts were the benefits the two received from a transaction involving German health company Dalmore, which they withheld from the board of LeisureNet, and which formed the basis of the charge of fraud they had been convicted on in April this year.

LeisureNet's collapse in 2000, with liabilities of R1bn, was SA's biggest corporate failure at that time. Since then, liquidators have settled for R30m after an initial claim of R1,2bn.

State advocate Geoff Budlender said if action was not taken the men would make a profit exceeding R400000 and R500000 each from the deal. He said it was a lot of money to ordinary people.