The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has secured a victory against Pretoria businessman, Kishene Chetty. He together with Harry Milanzi and Ravin Ramlall stand accused of fraud, forgery, money laundering and other cases of dishonesty.
Chetty and his defense team had filed an application before the Pretoria High Court, to have all of his alleged corruption matters combined into one case.
“They argue that the charges in all the cases are similar,” said the NPA’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) unit.
KISHENE CHETTY DEFENSE TEAM ACCUSED OF IMPROPER CONDUCT BY NPA
However NPA’s IDAC opposed Chetty’s application. They further accused his counsel of trying to introduce new evidence before court without prior consultation.
“The legal representatives of Chetty and others attempted to hand in four new lever arch files which were not provided to the court and the state in preparation for the hearing,” said IDAC.
According to IDAC, the State argued that in law, an applicant can file a supplementary only if they obtain leave to do so from a court. The supplementary should also be preceded by a substantive application.
KISHENE CHETTY APPLICATION DENIED
“The judge also questioned if it was correct for a criminal matter to be presided on by a civil court,” said IDAC.
The court ruled in favour of the NPA however and Chetty’s application was struck off the roll. He was further ordered to foot the cost of the legal fees.
IDAC said among Chetty’s co-accused are officials from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and private entities. All of them are facing multiple corruption charges relating to tender fraud within SAPS.
HOW CAN CORRUPTION WITHIN SAPS BE COMBATED?
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