Another delay hits VBS bank trial
|Published
Thirteen people accused of being part of the three-year looting spree at VBS Mutual Bank appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on Monday, on an array of charges ranging from racketeering, money laundering and corruption to theft.
An amended indictment cites a total of 179 charges, although not all the accused face all the charges.
Among those who appeared before Judge Peter Mabuse, were former VBS CEO Andile Ramavhunga; former treasurer Phophi Mukhobdobwane; KPMG auditor Sipho Malaba; Lieutenant-General Avhashoni Ramikosi, a non-executive director; and Ernest Nesane and Paul Magula, who both represented the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) on the VBS board as non-executive directors.
Their appearance followed on the heels of the sentencing earlier this month of Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the former VBS chairperson and mastermind behind the looting of R2 billion -- which include deposits made by pensioners and municipalities.
An explosive affidavit by Matodzi, which was leaked, mentioned prominent politicians and others of having benefited from the looting. The National Prosecuting Authority is investigating the leak.
Meanwhile, counsel for several of the 13 remaining accused on Monday indicated that they were ready for the trial to proceed. Counsel for a few others said they first had to study Matodzi’s plea bargain with the State and discuss it with their clients before they could proceed with the trial.
But the biggest delay barring the proceedings from being able to go ahead at this stage, is an interlocutory application brought by two of the accused -- Daniel Msiza and Kabelo Matsepe.
Former ANC Limpopo provincial treasurer Msiza and Matsepe, formerly an ANC Youth League boss in the province, had demanded that the National Prosecuting Authority provide them with further particulars in their case.
They were unhappy with the particulars that the NPA had provided to them and lodged an application to compel prosecutors to furnish them with full and better particulars to enable them to prepare for trial and formulate their defence. This application was refused.
They were asking for a temporary stay of prosecution and separation of trial as it is not known how long the SCA bid will take and the other accused, who are ready to proceed, may be prejudiced by the delay.
Prosecutor Hein van der Merwe indicated that the State will oppose the application. He made it clear that all the accused should be tried together as it would be prejudicial to the State if they were not.
One of his reasons cited was that the facts were the same and if there were two trials, all the State witnesses had to testify twice.
The matter was postponed to August 14 for the parties, including the State, to present their arguments in this regard to the court.
Matodzi, in his plea bargain agreement with the State earlier this month, tendered his “heartfelt and sincere apology” to all those affected by by his actions, which he said was “unjustifiable”.
“Through my unlawful actions at VBS I benefited many individuals and companies despite there being no legal basis why I was paying these people such huge amounts of money,” he said.
He explained that he paid some to “silence” them and he paid others to “buy their favour”.
Added to his plea bargain at the time, he said, “There are no words enough to describe the pain I feel for the innocent victims -- the VBS depositors, who lost their hard-earned money due to my actions.”
A host of witnesses are due to testify in the trial of the 13 accused once they have pleaded to the charges against them.
Pretoria News