Oscar Pistorius Oscar Pistorius
Lerato Tshipe
IN A sudden turn of events, Tshifhiwa Radzhadzi abandoned his bail application yesterday at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria.
Radzhadzi is facing a charge of fraud after he allegedly claimed to be a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) official who could make Oscar Pistorius' case fall away if he was given R350 000.
Radzhadzi confirmed before magistrate Nicca Setshogoe that he had instructed his lawyer, Mpesi Makhanya, to abandon the bail application. He, however, did not give any reasons as to why he did not go ahead with his application and chose to remain mum.
“I am not going to respond to any questions pertaining the reasons of the abandonment,” said Makhanya, adding that it is the constitutional right of the accused to decide whether or not to go ahead with his bail application.
The case was postponed to June 28 following a request by prosecutor Willem van Zyl. This was agreed upon because ongoing investigations were set to take longer than expected.
Van Zyl said Radzhadzi’s cellphone data still had to be analysed.
Radzhadzi was nabbed after the Hawks directorate for special investigations orchestrated a trap during which he was handed a depo-ssit of R40 000 on Friday 18 March, 2016 near the high court in Pretoria.
According to the prosecution he will face two charges of corruption and fraud.
He has not yet pleaded to these charges.