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JOHANNESBURG, July 24 (AFP) - A South African group representing apartheid victims Wednesday said they were concerned by US lawyer Ed Fagan's handling of a billion-dollar class action case, fearing the flamboyant attorney may be jumping the gun.

Neville Gabriel, a spokesman for Jubilee South Africa, which is assisting claimants in class action suits demanding billions of dollars from international companies accused of profiteering under apartheid, said it was worried about Fagan's "cowboy tactics".

"We have raised concern about how Fagan operates," Gabriel told Nampa-AFP. "But then its entirely up to the victims to decided on whether they want Fagan to represent them."

"We don't believe in cowboy tactics, a more serious effort is needed," Gabriel had earlier told the Johannesburg-based daily The Star.

Gabriel told Nampa-AFP that Jubilee SA, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, church groups and trade unions, was concerned that Fagan went ahead with the suits "before we were all properly prepared".

He said it also hoped to see a more developed legal argument, and was concerned that a hotline set up for victims to register their cases and which has already taken more than 2,000 calls did not take into account that people relating the horror of apartheid would not receive proper counselling.

The Star reported the victims were likely to drop Fagan, but Gabriel said: "There has definitely been no decision about that at all".

He said a concern remained that Fagan had raised unrealistic expectations.

"Reparations are not going to make millionaires out of victims. We need these issues to be discussed in a public debate, to get an acknowledgement that things should not have happened, and that the damage should be healed," he told The Star.

South African lawyers representing the victims said earlier this month that claims would soon be launched against US computer giant IBM, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank in a case modelled on successful compensation claims by Holocaust survivors.

Lawsuits were filed in Manhattan against Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse and US bank Citibank on June 19 for profiteering from the victims' "blood and misery".

Other companies targeted include oil, electronics, weapons and pharmaceutical firms.

Fagan said earlier this month that the cases would be consolidated in New York on August 9. -Nampa-AFP

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