Mdluli and co-accused corruption trial postponed

The fraud and corruption trial of former Crime Intelligence (CI) boss Richard Mdluli and his two co-accused was on Friday morning postponed to 20 July 2021.

This is to allow for Mdluli to get a response to his state funding application.

Mdluli and his co-accused, former CI operatives Heine Barnard and Solomon Lazarus, briefly appeared in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The court was meant to hear if Mdluli had managed to get state legal support after the high court in May gave him a month to apply for state funding of his legal costs in order not to further delay the corruption case.

The former CI head wants the South African Police Service (SAPS) to pay for his legal fees because the criminal acts he is charged with happened while he was employed by the police.

On Friday, Mdluli’s lawyer told the court that an application had been made for state funding, but a directive of how far the process had gone had not been forthcoming.

Mdluli and his co-accused face multiple charges of corruption, fraud and theft when they were at the helm of the police crime intelligence service from 2008 to 2012.

The charges are related to allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund, including private luxury trips to China and Singapore, private use of witness protection houses and the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond.