Johannesburg - The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has granted the State permission to appoint a pulmonologist to assess the medical condition of fraud and corruption accused and former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi.
The ruling was made during the appearance of former correctional services commissioner Linda Mti, former correctional service chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham and former Bosasa group chief financial officer Andries van Tonder.
Agrizzi was not in court but his lawyers made an undertaking to allow the State to have access to his private and confidential medical record to assess whether he would be fit to stand trial.
The case against them was postponed until May 30 to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for trial.
The State has singled out Mti as the mastermind behind the illegal awarding of massive tenders worth R1.8 billion to the controversial Bosasa company then under ownership of the late Gavin Watson.
In the indictment, the state alleges Mti was appointed as the national commissioner for the Department of Correctional Services as from September 1, 2001 for a period of three years.
During July 2004, his term of office was extended for a further period of three years. Mti was, by virtue of his position, the accounting officer of the department as envisaged by Section 36 of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999.
As the accounting officer of the department, Mti held the responsibility for the financial and functional approval and awarding of tenders issued by the department. He resigned from the Department on 30 November 2006 to become the chief security officer for the 2010 Soccer World Cup Tournament.
The State, however, argues that the four tenders forming the subject of these criminal charges were awarded to Bosasa, Sondolo IT, and Phezulu Fencing during the period when Mti was the commissioner and accounting officer of the department.
As a result of the combined charges, Mti is the only accused who was charged with five counts of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Mti also faces one count of corruption.
He also stands accused along with Gillingham and Aggrizi on four counts of fraud each.
Gillingham was also charged with corruption. He also faces five counts of money laundering along with Agrizzi and Van Tonder.
baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za
Political Bureau