The Bloemfontein Regional Court on Monday postponed the criminal case relating to the R25 million Nulane Investment case to 28 September, for additional accused to be added.
The accused in the matter are; former Transnet Board member, Iqbal Sharma; former Nulane Investment employee, Dinesh Patel; former Free State head of Department for Rural Development (FSDoRD), Peter Thabethe; former head of FSDoA, Limakatso Moorosi and former FSDoA Chief Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini.
They face charges of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, and money laundering.
The case relates to procurement fraud involving R24,9 million paid between November 2011 and April 2012 by the FSDoA to Nulane Investment 204, a company of which Sharma was both a director and shareholder.
The R24,9m was purportedly paid to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State Province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that the company had unique skills to perform the work.
Sindisiwe Seboka, Investigating Directorate spokesperson, said the state has not been in a position to secure the attendance of some of the accused at court.
Mutual Legal Assistance processes to bring them before a South African court to face these charges are underway.
To avoid unnecessary delays in the finalisation of the criminal trial against the accused already before court, the state will bring the remainder of the accused persons before a court in a separate trial.
