Senior NPA prosecutor taken off two BCM fraud cases
SENIOR state prosecuting advocate Diniso Ketani has been taken off two cases involving top Buffalo City Metro officials, politicians and powerful business people charged with stealing millions by fraud.
Ketani, who is based in the national office of the specialised commercial crimes unit, was in the East London Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where two of the high-profile cases he was prosecuting were due to be heard.
However, they could not proceed because he said the state could no longer afford to pay for his travel and accommodation expenses.
As a result, Ketani told presiding magistrate Ignatius Kitching, the dockets would now be handled by an East London counterpart in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“Your worship, my colleague from the local office will take over the matter because the NPA is embarking on costcutting measures.
“The government does not have money,” Ketani said.
The name of the new prosecutor was not revealed in court yesterday.
In one case the accused include BCM chief financial officer Vincent Pillay, supply chain manager Thembelani Sali, head of executive support services Ncumisa Sidukwana, councillor Luleka SimonNdzele, attorney Matthew Moodley and former mayor Zukiswa Ncitha.
They are accused of defrauding the municipality of R189 000.
The complainant in the matter is former BCM municipal manager Andile Fani.
The accused were supposed to have gone on trial yesterday, but the case is now postponed to February 12 next year so that the new prosecutor can catch up on the contents of the docket.
The second case involves ANC MP Zukisa Faku, prominent businessman Monde Webster Ndodana and seven other businesspeople accused of defrauding BCM of R15.6-million.
The charges stem from when Faku was mayor in 2009.
The state claims she hired Ndodana’s firm to provide technical and management support service to improve BCM’s infrastructure and service delivery between August 2009 and August 2010.
The firm was allegedly paid R15-million from the mayor’s discretionary fund, although the state claims there was no evidence of work being done. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za