Magashule claims Ricardo Mettler, who is currently serving 15-year jail term for theft of a multi-million rand Pierneef painting, was visited in jail by someone to try and implicate him in the theft of the much-valued painting. He revealed this during an interview with eNCA on Sunday, ahead of his court appearance at the Free State High Court for a pretrial over the failed R255 million asbestos project.

In 2020, Magashule testified in the High Court, before judge Soma Naidoo, where he said that when he was vacating the Premier's office, he gave various personal items to different people, including to Mettler. He also testified that he did not even know if "Pierneef" were a painting or an actual person.

Mettler was found guilty in 2020 on four counts of theft, fraud, money laundering, and perjury. Judge Naidoo handed down a 15-year prison sentence for theft, 15 years for money laundering, 15 years for fraud, and 12 months for perjury. Counts 2 and 4 are set to run concurrently.

It's been said that he stole the Pierneef painting with the intention of selling it to a Bloemfontein businessman - Wei-Lin Hsu - or using it as a guarantee for a loan of more than R2 million. Following Hsu's testimony in court, he was exempted from prosecution.

In 2020, the court heard how Mettler approached Hsu on the day of Premier Sisi Ntombela's inauguration on 28 March 2018 and asked for financial assistance. Mettler is said to have delivered the painting to the offices of Hsu a day later following an agreement between the two about a loan guarantee.

OFM News