The National Prosecution Authority's (NPA) Investigative Directorate (ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, says they have been prepared and complied with every request from the accused.

Eight suspects - including a Gupta Lieutenant, Iqbal Sharma - former Free State Department accounting officials and companies are facing charges of fraud and corruption among others.

In the 2011/12 period, R25 million was allegedly paid to Sharma's Nulane Investments, purportedly to ascertain the feasibility of the Vrede Dairy Project under the "Mohoma Mobung" initiative, with the presumption that Nulane Investments had unique skills to perform the work.

The case is still in its pretrial stages, and all parties involved are yet to conclude the case management, which will then enable them to proceed with the trial next year.

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The pretrial was postponed to 8 September 2022 to allow all parties involved in the matter to deal with the nitty-gritty around the case.

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"We also found out in court today (Friday) that the accused will require further particulars, and the timeline has been mapped out by ourselves as well as the various legal representatives as to when they will make their submissions for further particulars. We will assure the court that we will comply as reasonably possible and will ensure that by the time we come back in September we have done our part," Seboka added.

Free State High Court Deputy Judge President (DJP) Martha Mbhele raised her concerns with the delays in the case.

She told the State that she had postponed the matter and given parties involved in the matter four months to exchange documents.

"I gave you four months to deal with those issues so that if I come today, I must be told that there has been progress so that we can continue. But we can’t continue without knowing what has been done and if the parties are not interested to make any progress in the matter, I will make sure they do it," Mbhele told Senior Counsel (SC) Adv. Nazeer Cassim.

This criminal case was also featured in the latest instalment of the State Capture report, handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday night by the chair of the commission and Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo.

The accused in the matter include Ronica Ragavan, who stands accused in her personal capacity and in her representative capacity as a director of Islandsite Investments Pty Ltd, a company owned by the Gupta family.

The other accused in the matter include former Transnet Board member Sharma, former Free State HOD for Rural Development, Peter Thabethe, and former Chief Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini, as they face charges of fraud and money laundering. The former government officials are also charged with contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. The group is charged together with two companies, Nulane Investments 204 (Pty) Ltd and Islandsite Investments Pty Ltd.

Pre-trial was postponed to 8 September 2022 whilst a trial in the matter is scheduled to be heard next year from 23 January to 3 March.

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