Africa-Press – South-Africa. Disgraced lawyer Seth Nthai’s attempt to have corruption charges against him dropped has been dismissed, according to the State.
State advocate Jacob Tloubatla revealed in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday that National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi communicated her decision in a letter dated 27 September.
Nthai’s advocate, Gift Shakoane, said the defence did not receive the letter.
However, he added that they would ask Batohi to provide reasons for her decision before deciding whether to take it on review.
News24 previously reported that the corruption case related to allegations that Nthai attempted to solicit a R5-million bribe in 2009 from Italian businesses amid a mining rights dispute with the South African government.
Nthai is out on R5 000 bail and the case has been postponed to 2 December.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) stripped Nthai of his advocate title. It overturned his bid for readmission to the Bar and referred its ruling to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for possible criminal charges, News24 previously reported.
In its ruling, the SCA said: “On his own version, there is no escape from the fact that this [attempt to solicit a bribe] constituted a serious crime for which he surprisingly does not appear to have been charged.”
The appeal court dismissed a Limpopo High Court finding that depression and anxiety could explain Nthai’s attempt to solicit the bribe and said there was insufficient psychiatric evidence to support such a finding.
“The anxiety and depression, such as it is, hardly explain his clear, goal-directed behaviour over a protracted period, nor can it mitigate the dishonesty.”
News24 also reported allegations that recordings showed that Nthai not only promised to make the mining dispute go away if the Italian businesses paid the bribe into a foreign account, but also disclosed key aspects of the government’s strategy in the case.
He also allegedly agreed with the assertion of an Italian businessman that this kind of corruption was “more African”.
“It is difficult to imagine a more egregious transgression of the norms of professional conduct. This was no mere casual or momentary lapse of judgement. It was carefully calculated and zealously pursued. When the several meetings in this country failed to bear fruit, Mr Nthai travelled to Italy for the express purpose of nailing down an agreement,” the SCA said.
Last year, the Constitutional Court dismissed Nthai’s appeal the SCA’s ruling.
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