Agrizzi, Smith return to court in fraud, corruption case
It’s alleged ANC MP acted in a manner that favoured Bosasa during his tenure as chairperson of the portfolio committee on correctional services.
The application for bail of former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, right, was dismissed at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi is set to make his first appearance at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg after not showing up due to illness earlier this month.
Agrizzi will appear alongside former top ANC MP Vincent Smith – who maintained his innocence – was granted R30 000 bail in his last court outing.
Smith faces corruption charges which related to a CCTV and security system installed at his home in October 2014 and two payments totaling R671 000 to his company, Euro Blitz, in 2015 and 2016.
The payments were initiated by Agrizzi, who is also charged for his role in making the payments to Smith.
Meanwhile, the fraud charge that Smith face related to his failure to declare the gifts in the parliamentary register of members’ interests.
It’s alleged Smith acted in a manner that favoured Bosasa during his tenure as chairperson of the portfolio committee on correctional services, allegedly in exchange for the benefits from the company (now known as African Global Operations).
#VincentSmith arriving at the Palm Ridge Magistrate Court this morning for his fraud and corruption case.
Bosasa former COO is expected to join him. pic.twitter.com/W8WyZVarNX
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) October 14, 2020
In 2019, Agrizzi told the commission that former Bosasa chief executive officer Gavin Watson was paying bribes per month to the portfolio committee members on correctional services, including Smith, to avoid questions about Bosasa’s contracts with government at the time.
Bosasa had a multimillion-rand contract with the department of justice, constitutional development and correctional services for the implementation of access control and surveillance equipment at various courts across the country.
However, Bosasa managed to avoid the negative media scrutiny over the company’s tenders after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) started investigating.
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