The lawyers representing the accused, including former officials of the Free State Agriculture Department, who allegedly paid millions of rands to the so-called Gupta Lieutenant Iqbal Sharma's Nulane Investments company in 2011/2012, want all the charges against their clients dropped.  

ALSO READ: State faces uphill battle in Estina adjacent case

This comes after the state, led by Adv. Peter Serunye and Adv. Jacyntha Witbooi closed the state's case following the trials that at least lasted six weeks. The state called up to 21 witnesses to testify in this fraud, corruption, and money laundering trial. 

The acting judge, Nompumelelo Gusha, has earlier made a damning ruling against the state in relation to its investigation of the matter and also in relation to the evidence brought forward.

Judge Gusha ruled that some of the documents produced in court as evidence failed to pass the tests of originality and authenticity.  

ALSO READ: Evidence against Gupta associates ruled as inadmissible

She made reference to the documents from the so-called Gupta lieutenant Iqbal Sharma's Nulane Investments company, including the R8 million tax invoice, a contract between the Agriculture Department and Nulane, and also Delloite's due diligence report. Judge Gusha ruled the Nulane tax invoice and the department's deviation document, crafted by Shadrack Cezule, were admissible but the contract between the department and Nulane, and a due diligence report were ruled inadmissible. Judge Gusha said all the evidence the state came to rely upon to prove the authenticity, came to nothing.

"As authenticity was considered an issue, the state submitted that they would tender the original documents to prove the authenticity of the documents. In furtherance of this application, the state has placed its reliance on section 3 of the Law of Evidence Amendment Act 45 of 1988, which deals with hearsay evidence."

This application was met with vehement opposition from the defence counsel, primarily on the basis that the documents availed were purported to be copies and not originals. The state had not, among others, laid the basis for the introduction thereof, furthermore the authenticity of some, if not all, was an issue. "After careful consideration of the submission before me, I ruled that the disputed documents be provisionally admitted into the record, I did so primarily on the proviso that will during the course of these proceedings tender of evidence have satisfied the basis of originality and authenticity," she said.

"After careful consideration of the submissions before me, I ruled that the disputed documents would be provisionally admitted into the record. I did so primarily on the proviso that the state would produce evidence that would satisfy the basis of originality and authenticity."

She said none of the witnesses who testified in court was present when the department officials were said to have signed the documents, including the contract between Nulane and the department. She also said no handwriting expert was deduced in order to authenticate the said signatures.

“With regards to those documents whose purported authors testified during these proceedings - even they did not authenticate the very same documents they authored, as those by their own evidence were altered. In this regard, the Deloitte report comes to mind, as well as the respective evidence of Ms Motshumi and Mr Thubisi. Accordingly, all the other copies of the documents sought to rely upon by the state, are now - with the benefit of having regard to the evidence that led up to this point - ruled inadmissible.”

It was also heard during the proceedings that millions of rands allegedly looted from the Free State Agriculture Department could not be fully traced because they were pushed around to different bank accounts by suspects accused of varying crimes in the R25 million Estina adjacent trial.

This emerged during the testimony of a state witness, Thesele Rankuotsana, who is the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) senior financial investigating 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".

OFM News previously reported that 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.

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.

In 2021, during the bail hearing of some of the suspects at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court, Advocate Witbooi revealed that the Free State was one of the provinces often looted by the notorious Gupta family members and associates.

It's unclear how the proceedings or the outcomes of this adjacent trial could influence the proceedings in the original 2018 Estina case, where some of the suspects, including Ronica Ragavan, Peter Mbana Thabethe, and Seipati Dhlamini, stand accused of varying charges in that case.

OFM News