Central SA
Multi-million rand Vrede adjacent trial to commence─── LUCKY NKUYANE 07:56 Mon, 23 Jan 2023
The trial of the R25 million Vrede adjacent case will on Monday, 23 January 2023 commence at the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein.
The former Transnet board member and Gupta associate, Igbal Sharma, will among others appear alongside former government officials, including Peter Mbana Thabethe, Seipati Dhlamani, Limakats Moorosi and businesses, to face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering, among others.
The trial commences after a longtime pretrial that was marred by long postponements and court challenges by the defence attorneys, who sought to compel the state for further particulars.
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According to the National Prosecution Authority's (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, the trial is expected to be concluded on 3 March 2023.
Former government officials are accused of aiding the Nulane Investment company to loot and syphon R24,5 million from the provincial coffers during a feasibility study known as the Mohoma Mobung initiative.
The state alleged that Nulane Investments, however, had no employees on its books and in fact subcontracted Deloitte to produce the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1,5 million. It’s further alleged that 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.
"The case is based on allegations that R24,9 million was paid to Nulane Investment to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State Province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work.
In the dock are businessman Iqbal Sharma, former Free State head of the Department for Rural Development (FSDoRD), Peter Thabethe; former head of FSDoA, Limakatso Moorosi; former FSDoA Chief Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini; Iqbal Sharma’s brother-in-law and a representative of Nulane Investments, Dinesh Patel; and Islandsite director Ronica Ragavan.
The companies indicted are Nulane Investments 204 Pty Ltd. and Islandsite Investment One Hundred and Eighty Pty Ltd," Seboka adds. The accused were granted bail, ranging from R10 000 to R500 000.
