State opposes Agrizzi bail application, case postponed to 3 December

The fraud and corruption case against former Bosasa chief operations officer (COO) Angelo Agrizzi and former top ANC MP Vincent Smith has been postponed to 3 December after they both appeared at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Agrizzi made his first appearance at the court having failed to show up due to illness earlier this month.

While Agrizzi’s co-accused, Smith, was granted R30 000 bail in his last court outing, the state is currently opposing the former COO’s bail application due to the fact that he lied under oath in his previous affidavit, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Aggrizi appears at Palm Ridge Court in Johannesburg,14 October 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

The NPA said on Twitter that the state was opposing Agrizzi’s bail application as he might be considered as a flight risk.

“He failed to disclose that his house worth R13.5 million is owned under a trust. He further failed to pay his bond and owed R8.7million and now the bank is auctioning his property,” the NPA said.

“He further did not hand over his Italian passport. He also transferred R11.98 million to his offshore account to a foreign investment. His wife has also made deposits to an offshore account,” it added.

Smith faces corruption charges which related to a CCTV (closed-circuit television) and security system installed at his home in October 2014 and two payments totalling 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).

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