WATCH: Blue lights case not struck from roll

Judgment was handed down in the Specialised Financial Crimes court sitting in Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on an application brought by one of the accused in the R191-million blue lights tender fraud case to have the matter struck from the roll.

The 12 accused, some of whom held high-ranking positions within the SAPS, who are facing between them 392 charges, including fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering, were set to face trial from November 16, but an application was brought by the lawyer of Khomoto Phahlane, former national police commissioner, asking the court to investigate unfair delays in the court proceedings.

The application was dismissed and the matter postponed.

Among the concerns during the application was the extreme length of postponements, with the first hearing taking place in 2018 and the state having claimed in March that it was ready for trial, where the defence claimed further investigation took place following this statement which contradicts the states claim of readiness.

This includes a search and seizure operation as recently as October this year. Further concerns were the addition of the 15th accused, former deputy national commissioner Bonang Mgwenya, who was arrested on October 12, and the volume of the evidence from the State and where it pertains to the individual accused.

In response, advocate for the state Tilas Chabalala again reiterated the states readiness to take the matter to trial. Chabalala described the tactic used by the defence to have the matter struck from the roll as Stalingrad Tactics and expressed his dissatisfaction of the tactics being used. He indicated that if the belief of the defence is that Mgwenya and her fellow accused have not had enough time to prepare that the matter should be postponed to give them opportunity to ready themselves.

In reference to the new investigations following the setting of the trial date, Chabalala indicated that the lockdown brought the investigation luck as the investigating officer found additional evidence. He said for the state to ignore this new information just because a trial date has been set would be irresponsible.

In his judgment, the presiding officer indicated the delays in the case were not unfair towards the accused. He echoed the State’s right to further investigate the matter until evidence is led, as well as add further accused and charges until evidence is led.

With guidance from the magistrate, an agreement was reached for full disclosure to take place before February 28. The matter has been postponed to April 30 for possible pre-trial conference.

Accused numbers

Accused are added to a case with a certain number as they are charged. This number remains after charges are dropped and a new number can be assigned if charges are reinstated. This can lead to an accused having a higher number than the actual amount of accused before court.

WATCH: Sindisiwe Twala, spokesperson for the Investigative Directorate, speaking on the dismissal.