R30m corruption trial delayed
25/01/2008 08:32  - (SA)  

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Mpuma corruption trial resumes Mpumalanga fraud under scrutiny Mpuma wants its R3.6m back

Nelspruit - The R30m corruption trial of former Mpumalanga director general Advocate Stanley Soko was postponed on medical grounds on Thursday.

The Nelspruit regional court postponed the case after Soko's co-accused, axed Mpumalanga Economic Empowerment Corporation (MEEC) chief executive Ernest Khosa, filed a medical report indicating that he needed back surgery.

The trial was scheduled to resume with testimony about how the two men forced government contractors to meet them in shady car parks and dark streets to pay massive cash bribes.

Both men were fired from their jobs when the scandal broke, and have been charged with corruption, fraud, and contravention of both the Public Service Management Act and the Organised Crime Act.

They have pleaded not guilty and Soko is out on bail of R20 000 while Khosa is out on R50 000 bail.

The case was provisionally postponed to April 1 to allow Khosa to undergo surgery on February 5 followed by a medical assessment to ensure that he was fit to testify.

Prosecutor Riegel du Toit said Khosa had also been unable to attend a second corruption case in the Pretoria regional court on Wednesday because of his illness. Khosa faces 48 counts of fraud in Pretoria relating to the abuse of MEEC resources. That case was provisionally postponed to March 28.

- African Eye

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