Billy Downer

Advocate William John "Billy" Downer, SC (born 20 November 1956 in Pretoria), is a deputy director of public prosecutions with the South African National Prosecuting Authority.

Billy Downer attended Pretoria Boys High School and then graduated in law at Stellenbosch University in 1979, and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, where he obtained the BCL degree. He joined the South African Department of Justice (the forerunner of the National Prosecuting Authority) in October 1982.

Since then he has focused in prosecuting corruption and other high-profile cases. One of his more successful cases was the State vs Shaik trial. His investigations, which led to the discovery of a handwritten encrypted fax in French promising an amount of R500,000 per annum to 'JZ' until the payment of ADS dividends, were key in securing the conviction of Schabir Shaik on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud.

He lives with his partner, William De Villiers, in Cape Town South Africa.

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