Judgment reserved in ID's bid to reinstate charges against accused in Nulane case

JOHANNESBURG - Judgment has been reserved in the Investigating Directorate (ID)’s bid to reinstate the charges against the accused in the Nulane case.  

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Friday heard arguments in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s application for leave to appeal.  

The ID believes the Free State division of the High Court erred materially when it acquitted the fraud accused.  

Former Free State government officials Peter Thabethe and Seipati Dhlamini, businessman Iqbal Sharma and his brother-in-law, Dinesh Patel, Gupta enterprise employee Ronica Ragavan, and companies Islandsite Investment One Hundred and Eighty, and Nulane Investments were all accused.  

The first state capture-related case was dealt a deadly blow in 2023 after the superior court lamented how the case was investigated.  

The Free State division of the High Court invoked Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which prescribes that a presiding officer may hand down a not guilty verdict if, at the close of the case for the prosecution at any trial, the court is of the opinion that there is no evidence that the accused committed the offence referred to in the charge.  

However, the ID is of a different view, as spokesperson Henry Mamothame explained: “We believe the accused have a case to answer to, and the Supreme Court of Appeal granted a platform for the State to ventilate its position in an effort to reenrol the matter.”  

The accused are facing charges of fraud, money laundering, and the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.  

These charges relate to a contract valued at approximately R24.9 million, which was awarded to Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study on a project that was sanctioned by the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.