resigned as State President in disgrace. Botha was absolved of any wrongdoing, on the basis that he had not known how the slush fund was used and so had not known about the irregularities. Mulder, Rhoodie and van den Bergh were held primarily responsible for the irregularities, with Erasmus also claiming that Rhoodie and van den Bergh had attempted to manipulate the September 1978 National Party election to have Mulder appointed Vorster's successor. Erasmus did not reveal what other Project Annemarie initiatives had been, and he recommended that dozens of them should continue to operate. Criminal charges against Rhoodie Rhoodie testified at the Erasmus Commission but fled the country immediately afterwards, spending time in Ecuador, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France. In an interview with the BBC, he told David Dimbleby that he was a scapegoat and that senior officials, including the Prime Minister, had authorised the projects. In July 1979, he was extradited from France to South Africa to face fraud and theft charges. He was found guilty on five counts and sentenced to six years' imprisonment, but the verdict was overturned on appeal in 1980. Rhoodie continued to maintain that he was innocent and had been the victim of a political "vendetta." See also Eschel Rhoodie Connie Mulder Bureau for State Security References Further reading De Villiers, Les (1980). Secret Information. Tafelberg. . Hachten, William A., Giffard, C. Anthony & Hachten, Harva (1984). "Muldergate: Covert Efforts to Influence Opinion." In The Press and Apartheid, 229–261. Palgrave Macmillan. Rees, Mervyn & Day, Chris (1980). Muldergate: The Story of the Info Scandal. Macmillan South Africa. . Rhoodie, Eschel (1969). The Paper Curtain. Voortrekkerpers. OCLC 53023687. Rhoodie, Eschel (1983). The Real Information Scandal. Atlanta, Georgia: Orbis. . Rickard, Carmel (2012). Thank You, Judge Mostert!. Penguin Random House South Africa. . External links AP report on the scandal in March 1979 Rhoodie in 1980, following his successful appeal in court "The Player", on Arnon Milchan's involvement in the Club of Ten Apartheid government Apartheid in propaganda Political scandals in South Africa 1977 in South Africa Political history of South Africa Corruption in South Africa