This emerged during the testimony of a state witness, Thesele Rankuotsana, who is the National Prosecuting Authority's senior financial investigator officer and former Hawks commercial crime investigator. 

According to Rankuoatsana, money from one of the accused, Island Investments, as well as an accused in the Estina adjacent trial, was mixed in with other money discovered in the company's account.

In his testimony, he told Judge Nompumelelo Gusha that "when the funds reached the Islandsite bank account, the funds got intermingled with other funds, making it impossible to identify the further flow or even the destination".

Islandsite Investments is accused number 7, and it is represented by Ronica Rogavan, accused number 8. Ragavan and Islandsite stand accused of money laundering. 

During Rankuoatsana's testimony, it was revealed that there were some transactions made to one of Dubai's international companies, Gateway Limited, from one of the Guptas' associates' accounts, Oakbay Investments. Millions of rands were transferred on two occasions in the space of a single week. 

According to the state's indictment, it alleges that the funds comprising the four payments to the so-called Gupta family "lieutenant" Iqbal Sharma's Nulane Investment company, constituted proceeds of unlawful activities since they were derived and received in connection with or as a result of unlawful activities.

The state indictment further alleges that upon these millions of rands being paid over to Nulane, the money was then laundered and distributed through a scheme of transactions into and through different bank accounts of the company, including Islandsite, Wone Management, Pragat Investments, Arctos Trading, Oakbay Investments, Tegeta Resources and Confident Concepts held in South Africa, as well as into an off-shore account of Gateway Limited. 

"The property was moved between the bank accounts of Accused 5, 7, Wone Management, Pragat Investments, Arctos, and Gateway Limited in an unusual and convoluted manner and without a legitimate business purpose. 

"The actual or likely effect of the convoluted movement of the property was to conceal or disguise the nature, source, location, disposition, movement, or ownership of the said property or the department’s interest therein."

"The movement of the property also had the effect of enabling or assisting Sharma, Nulane, Islandsite (and its directors), Wone Management (and its directors), Pragat Investments (and its directors), and Gateway Limited and its director, to remove or diminish the aforesaid property," the state added. 

It is also the state's position that a total amount of R19 007 934, which formed part of the money derived by Nulane from the department as aforesaid, was eventually transferred from the aforementioned company’s Bank of Baroda account into an off-shore Standard Charter Bank account of Gateway Limited, held in the United Arab Emirates, under the pretext that it was for payment of services under the aforesaid contract between Nulane and Gateway Limited.

On Thursday, the prosecution team called a retired Absa employee, Linda Channing, with more than 40 years of experience, as well as Norman Percival Smit, also with more than 40 years of experience at the bank. 

Channing took to the stand and explained how the banking management system works and how one of the Gupta brothers, Atul, was the super user of the banking system for Sahara Computers.

Later on, Smit also testified about how money allegedly flowed from one account to another during 2011 and 2012. Millions of rands were transferred from Sharma to Islandsite Investments. From there, it would be sent to Pragat Investments. 

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The state contends that these millions were sent from one focal point by a system operator, who in this case was Atul Gupta. 

The case is based on allegations that R24,9 million was paid to Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project. The state alleged that Nulane had no employees and subcontracted Deloitte to produce the report. 

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.

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