Africa-Press – South-Africa. The lawyer of former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama, who is implicated in a R398.4 million Transnet fraud and corruption case, has blamed the state for unreasonably delaying the matter.
Advocate Kenny Oldwage told a Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Thursday that he would not tolerate the “unreasonable delay” by the state, which sought to postpone the matter by three more months.
“There is again a further delay. Why, almost two months later, must we agree to another delay? I am not prepared to agree to that,” Oldwage told the court.
This comes after the state asked for the matter to be postponed to 28 September to transfer the case to the high court.
While all other legal representatives agreed to the date, Oldwage objected.
The prosecutor, Advocate Peter Masiakwala, told the court that the state had complied with all the requests of the defence attorneys in the case and had created an online platform where all relevant documents were uploaded.
Masiakwala said there had been “back-and-forth” discussions between the state and the defence, and all requests had been attended to.
But Oldwage said the state submitted further documents late on Wednesday night, adding that he did not have time to consider what this additional documentation comprised.
“I have not seen it. Again, we have the state at play here; I won’t tolerate that,” he told the court.
The 11 high-profile private sector and former state executives implicated in the matter, including former Transnet boss Brian Molefe, made a brief appearance in court on Thursday.
There are 18 parties involved if the companies that stand charged are included. Among these are top advisory firms McKinsey & Company SA and the Gupta-linked Trillian Asset Management and Regiments.
The accused include McKinsey employee Goitseone Mangope, who is charged as a company representative but not in his personal capacity.
Also accused are the executives of Regiments and Trillian Asset Management, which both have links to the Gupta family, who have been implicated in the capture of key state institutions.
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The others include former Transnet chief financial officer (CFO) Anoj Singh and former acting CFO Garry Pita; Regiments Capital directors Niven Pillay and Litha Nyhonhya; former Transnet group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi; Regiments shareholder Eric Wood; Trillian Asset Management director Daniel Roy; and Gupta associate Kuben Moodley and his company Albatime.
The charges relate to Transnet’s consultancy agreement for the procurement of 1 064 locomotives. The court postponed the matter against all the accused except Gama to 28 September.
The court heard that Roy would apply on 18 July to relax his bail conditions.
Gama is expected back in court on 3 August.
Masiakwala said this would give the defence time to consider all the documentation and inform the court if they are satisfied. He added that Gama was also expected to bring an application to relax his bail conditions.
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