The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) re-enrolled the Nulane corruption case in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday (4/6). This follows a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling in June 2025 that reinstated the matter.

The accused also failed in their attempt to have the Constitutional Court overturn the SCA ruling. The matter was postponed to 22 September 2026 to allow for the disclosure of the docket, said Idac spokesperson Henry Mamothame.

‘Comedy of errors of the millennium’

Eight accused appeared in court after being served with summonses. They include former government officials, “Gupta lieutenant” Iqbal Sharma from Nulane Investments, and several others. They face charges relating to fraud involving approximately R25m.

The case was previously dismissed in April 2023 when Judge Nompumelelo Gusha acquitted all the accused. In a strongly worded judgement, she criticised the police investigation into allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering, describing it as a “comedy of errors of the millennium” due to the handling of evidence.

Gusha had also delivered a scathing assessment of the prosecution team led by advocates Peter Serunye and Jacyntha Witbooi. In her 39-page judgement, she found the state had failed to meet even the most basic evidentiary threshold and ruled the application for discharge could not be refused.

The judge was particularly critical of the testimony of state witness Shadrack Cezula, who testified under Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act. She declined to grant him indemnity, finding he had failed to incriminate himself in the alleged wrongdoing linked to the Estina-related matter, as required by law.

During the original trial, the court heard evidence that millions of rand allegedly looted from the Free State department of agriculture could not be fully traced because the funds had been moved through multiple bank accounts.

Senior NPA financial investigator and former Hawks commercial crime investigator Thesele Rankuoatsana testified funds transferred to Islandsite Investments became mixed with other monies in the company’s accounts.

“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,” Rankuoatsana told the court.

The prosecution also called retired Absa banking specialists Linda Channing and Norman Percival Smit, both of whom had more than four decades of experience in the banking sector. Channing explained the workings of banking management systems and testified Gupta family member Atul Gupta was the super user of Sahara Computers’ banking platform.

‘The contract was allegedly awarded on the basis that Nulane possessed specialised expertise’

Smit later provided evidence regarding the movement of funds between various accounts during 2011 and 2012, including transfers involving Sharma and Islandsite Investments.

At the centre of the case are allegations that R24.9m was paid to Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State government’s Mohoma Mobung agricultural project. The contract was allegedly awarded on the basis that Nulane possessed specialised expertise to undertake the work.

The state alleges that Nulane had no employees and instead subcontracted Deloitte to produce the report for R1.5m. Prosecutors further allege the only significant amendment to Deloitte’s report was the identification of Paras Dairy as a suitable implementation partner for a milk processing plant in Vrede.

Former Free State government officials Peter Mbana Thabethe, Seipati Dhlamini and Limakatso Moorosi are among those accused of facilitating unlawful payments linked to the project. The state alleges officials approved an upfront payment of R12m without the necessary supporting documentation before the department paid the balance, bringing the total to R24.9m.

The companies facing charges are Nulane Investments 204 (Pty) Ltd and Islandsite Investment One Hundred and Eighty (Pty) Ltd.

During a 2021 bail hearing, Witbooi argued the Free State had become one of the provinces heavily targeted for looting by members of the Gupta family and their associates.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi

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