Seven people accused of corruption in the Free State appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Photo: Twitter/Freestater
Seven people accused of corruption in the Free State appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Photo: Twitter/Freestater
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) are investigating claims that one of the suspects arrested in relation to the R255 million Free State asbestos corruption case tried to bribe officials when they spent the night in custody on Thursday 1 October.
The NPA have confirmed that one of the accused, who joined six others at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court for their bail hearing on Friday, entered the cells with money and tried to get his hands on cell phones.
Free State official accused of trying to bribe prison officials
The arrests of the African National Congress (ANC) affiliated businesspeople and officials will certainly have several members of the ruling party who have long been suspected of involvement in the corrupt happenings in the Free State on tenterhooks.
One can imagine that the shredding machines will be hard at work today, and the accused suspect must have thought that making contact with and giving instructions to someone on the outside was urgently necessary on the eve of his first court appearance.
“One of the suspects, it is alleged, went into the cells with money and started buying cellphones,” said NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema.
“There are a number of things law enforcement agencies are investigating with regards to bribery and we may have to press further charges against one of the accused when these investigations are complete” he said.
ANC deliberating fate of ousted Mangaung Mayor
One of the suspects who took to the stand on Friday is Sarah “Olly” Mlamleli, the ousted Mangaung Mayor and ANC cadre. She was granted R100 000 bail, but she is by no means off the hook.
ANC officials in the Free State are locked in meetings on Friday deliberating whether she should step away from her political responsibilities as per the directive handed down by the National Executive Committee (NEC) last month regarding members who are accused of corruption.
ANC Free State spokesperson Thabo Meeko told TimesLIVE on Friday morning that discussions are ongoing.
“The officials convened urgently to look into the matter. They are looking at the developments and what decision will be taken. The provincial working committee and the provincial executive committee (PEC) will be briefed on the course of action,” said Meeko.
The Asset Forfeiture unit (AFU) has also reportedly moved to freeze R300 million worth of assets belonging to businessman Edwin Sodi, who was the first of the seven suspects to be arrested for allegedly making “donations” to the ANC on a whim, as well as his co-accused.
Speaking to eNCA, NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngema said that they would first be seizing assets belonging to Mlamleli, as well as fellow accused former head of the department of human settlements in the Free State, Nthimose Mokhesi.
“The AFU got a R300 million order to attach assets belonging to the seven accused. These assets are bing rounded up in Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and In KwaZulu-Natal. We will go to the properties of the three accused from Bloemfontein. The order is to attach household goods, cars, as well as their properties.
DA welcome Free State arrests
The Democratic Alliance (DA) have welcomed the arrest and first court appearances of the suspects, saying that they have been actively involved in exposing the malfeasance relating to the issue of R255 million asbestos contract.
“The MEC of the Department of Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements (COGTAHS) at the time was Olly Mlamleli. In our court action back in July 2015, the DA attempted to stop further payments on the asbestos contract, whereby Ms Mlamleli was cited as the Second Respondent,” they said.
“During these court proceedings, the MEC spoke in court at the end of the hearing when she assured the Judge that she would ensure that no payments would be made until the Judge had ruled on the urgency of the matter.”
‘Wheels of justice must continue to turn’
The DA was also the complainant in the recently released Public Protector report on the contracts, the outcome of which supported the DA’s initial court bid to stop payments.
“Today the DA are relieved that a politician who has been implicated and being held criminally accountable in illegal payments relating to the asbestos contract has been arrested and charged in the Bloemfontein High Court,” they said.
“The DA believes that the wheels of justice will continue to turn against the political handlers who have been involved in mass looting across the Free State during the tenure of former Premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule.”
