The State prosecutor Adv. Peter Serunye says the former police officer will again be subpoenaed following his failure to appear in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein last week. OFM News previously reported that the state struggled to locate one of the key witnesses in the Free State R25 million Estina adjacent trial.

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On Thursday, leading prosecutor Adv. Serunye told the court they even had to cancel his flight and accommodation. Adv. Serunye revealed that this key witness, who is a former investigating officer in the case, has since retired and is somewhere in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape. He said the witness in question was not available on his phone and even the local police, who have since offered help, failed to locate him.

The officer is one of two whose motives and conduct have been scrutinised by the defence attorneys, who put it to the court that the officers coerced and coached witnesses to testify in favour of the state. The witness was also involved in the search and seizure operation of documents of the Department of Agriculture.

Earlier a state witness, Kenosi Thubisi, from the Department’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) unit, told Judge Nompumelelo Gusha that he did not write his statement.

The case is based on allegations that R24.9 million was paid to Nulane Investments 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. 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 alleged that the only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras Dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede.

Free State government officials and service providers stand accused of looting and stealing millions from the Free State Agriculture Department. It's alleged that officials – including Peter Mbana Thabethe, Seipati Dhlamini, and Limakatso Moorosi – allowed an illegal upfront payment of R12 million with no proper documents.

It's also alleged that the department later paid the rest of the money, amounting to R24.9 million, for a feasibility study.

The companies indicted are Nulane Investments 204 Pty Ltd. and Islandsite Investment One Hundred and Eighty Pty Ltd.

The trial is expected to be concluded on 3 March 2023.

OFM News