Deputy Judge President (DJP) of the Bloemfontein-based High Court, Martha Mbhele, has dismissed a special entry application brought by three accused in the matter.

This came after she initially denied an application to compel the state to provide the accused with additional information in order to prepare for the trial. 

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Judge Mbhele says the application is unnecessary, and granting it would constitute an abuse of the court process. 

On 3 November 2022, the defence attorneys, including Adv Kenny Oldwage and Senior Counsel Adv Michael Hellens, told Judge Mbhele they would be making a special entry after citing irregularities stemming from her judgement. 

Accused number 6, Denish Patel, accused number 7, Island Investments One Hundred and Eighty (PTY) LTD, and accused number 8, Ronica Ragavan, filed the special entry application, citing that the state had offered little detail to help them prepare for their trial.

A special entry is made when applicants feel that there is an irregularity in the court proceedings, which will then have the potential to infringe on the rights of the accused to have a fair trial.

Adv Oldwage revealed that they also reserved their right to approach the Constitutional Court as far as the judgment is concerned, which failed to compel the state to release further particulars related to the accused.

"We have certainly considered the application and we are of the view that the judgment and consequence of the order by this court today result in an irregularity," Oldwage added.

Meanwhile, state prosecutor Peter Serunye counter-argued the defence's claims that the judgment is irregular. He said the defence cannot deem the proceedings and the judgment irregular solely because the judgment did not go their way. Serunye said the state was satisfied with Judge Mbhele's judgment.

The state alleges in its papers in court that the accused, including Seipati Dlamini and Peter Thabethe, among others, conspired or colluded to divert funds earmarked for rural development in the Free State.

Eight accused, including Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma and others, face charges of fraud and money laundering, while former government officials are also charged with contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

According to the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) Investigative Directorate (ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, these funds were then placed at the disposal of the Gupta family. She says the R25 million was purportedly paid to Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State Province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung initiative, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work.

"Nulane Investments, however, had no employees on its books and, in fact, subcontracted Deloitte Ltd to produce the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1.5 million. The only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras Diary as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede," Seboka added.

The case, which is still in its pretrial stage, is still battling to go beyond case management. The case management session is aimed at finalising the outstanding procedures ahead of the trial, scheduled from 23 January to 3 March 2023.

The accused were granted bail, ranging from R10 000 to R500 000.

OFM News