The state's leading prosecutor Adv. Peter Serunye recently told the Free State Acting High Court Judge, Nompumelelo Gusha, that evidence that links the accused to the wrongdoing speaks for itself and they are confident the accused will be convicted.

He said the money trail from the so called-Gupta lieutenant Iqbal Sharma's Nulane Investments, Islandsite, and Pragat was enough to paint a picture of fraud, corruption and money laundering.  

Adv. Serunye said it was ironic and eyebrow-raising that the money flow from the accounts of the aforementioned companies of the Gupta associates started only after the Free State Department of Agriculture made a payment of R24.9 million to Nulane.

"On 28 November 2011, on a Nulane letterhead, Accused 4 signed a resolution, as the director of Accused 5, authorising Ravindra Nath to sign all documents and to do everything necessary to give effect to the opening and operation of a current account at the Bank of Baroda, Johannesburg, on behalf of Accused 5 (A3 of Exhibit Bundle 2)," Adv. Serunye added.

He said this when the defence lawyers applied to have the charges levelled against the suspects acquitted. Some of the accused in the case include Peter Mbana Thabethe, Seipati Dhlamini, and Dr Limakatso Moorosi.

ALSO READ: Estina adjacent case: Lawyers to apply for acquittal

During the submission by the defence lawyers, Adv. Kenny Oldwage and Senior Counsel (SC) Adv. Michael Hellens said the state pursued a goal-driven investigation to link the charges to the suspects.

Adv. Oldwage and SC Hellens launched a scathing attack on the state's evidence and said it seemed fabricated. The duo, among others, said the manner in which statements were taken from witnesses was very underhanded, and some of the witnesses, including former Delloite employee, Omri van Zyl, lied under oath.  They said witnesses were coerced to tell a tale from the state's point of view.

The state called up to 21 witnesses to testify in this fraud, corruption, and money laundering trial.

The acting judge,  Gusha,  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.

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