Bushiri, wife remain in custody over R102m fraud, money laundering case

Shepherd Bushiri, wife remain in custody over R102m fraud, money laundering case
The State’s case against self-proclaimed Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, his wife Mary Bushiri and a third accused, Landiwe Ntlokwane, has been rolled over to Friday.

They appeared in the Pretoria Central Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

They faced charges of fraud, theft and money laundering relating to an amount of R102 million.

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The court heard earlier that the State wanted the bail application postponed, but Bushiri’s legal team opposed this.

Advocate Anneline Van Den Heever, on behalf of the accused, told the court they were ready to proceed and that the State was not entitled to have the matter postponed.

“When you arrest, you must be ready to proceed. One expects that when one applies for a warrant of arrest in a matter that has been investigated for a prolonged period, the State and investigation team should have their house in order,” she argued before the court.

The court, however, ran out of time to hear the State’s response and subsequently rolled the matter over to Friday.

Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG), the church which Bushiri leads, released a statement on Tuesday confirming the arrest of Mary Bushiri.

In addition, the statement revealed that their leader had handed himself over to the Hawks.

The self-proclaimed prophet and his wife were set to go on trial in May 2021 for a separate fraud and money laundering case in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The three suspects were remanded until their next court appearance on Friday.

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