The entrance of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Pretoria. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
The Venda Building Society (VBS) Mutual Bank trial has been postponed again and will resume in court in August.
On Monday, 13 suspects implicated in the looting of VBS bank appeared the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for a pre-trial hearing.
The state indicated that it was ready to proceed with the trial, but this was derailed after the defence sought a postponement.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), some of the defence counsel requested time to consult with the accused following former VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi’s guilty plea.
Earlier this month, Matodzi admitted to charges including fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
His 70-page affidavit, which was later leaked, detailed how at least R2.2 billion was embezzled from VBS.
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The defence sought to delay the pre-trial due to the “new information” revealed in Matodzi’s affidavit, causing frustration for the state.
“You would have heard the judge when he said you had two weeks within which to consult with clients based on the information that was provided to you by the state, so we believe they had sufficient time,” NPA national spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga told the SABC on Monday.
The pre-trial was also delayed due to two applications filed by former ANC Limpopo treasurer Danny Msiza and businessman Kabelo Matsepe.
Msiza and Matsepe are seeking a temporary stay of prosecution while they await the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) decision on their petition challenging the high court’s dismissal of an earlier application.
Mhaga said the state was surprised by this and confirmed that it would oppose the application for a temporary stay.
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“It is quite disheartening that when all parties were ready for the pre-trial conference to proceed, we were taken by surprise with the application by Mr [Shaun] Abrahams in respect of Mr Matsepe and Mr Msiza.
“[The accused cited] failure to provide them with information sufficient for them to defend themselves, when such information was provided and disclosed to them timeously.
“We believe that it is just a waste of time and we vigorously oppose that application,” he said.
The NPA spokesperson further indicated that Msiza and Matsepe’s application to have their trials separated from that of the 11 other accused would be opposed as well.
“The second application relates to separation of trials, which we believe to be prejudicial to the state as our witnesses would have to testify twice in two separate trials and that’s unfair.
“It is going to be quite exhausting for them and it is undesirable that they be subjected to that situation,” Mhaga concluded.
The judge directed both the state and the defence to submit their responding affidavits before the case returns to court on 14 August.
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