Court upholds asset seizure

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Tuesday upheld the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) seizure of R59.8 million in assets belonging to the Trifecta Group.

This, after Trifecta appealed the Asset Forfeiture Unit’s confiscation of the more than R59 million following businessperson Christo Scholtz’s and former Northern Cape finance MEC and provincial ANC chairperson John Block’s conviction for corruption and money laundering.

The judgment by the SCA came over a year after it dismissed both Scholtz and Block’s leave to appeal their 15-year sentences. Block, who was at that time the former chairperson of the ANC in the Northern Cape and the MEC of finance, was found guilty of corruption and money laundering by the Northern Cape High Court in 2015 and sentenced in 2016.

His co-accused, Scholtz, was found guilty on two counts of corruption and two counts of money laundering. The prosecuting authority said the SCA dismissed the company’s application for leave to appeal against the Kimberley High Court’s decision on the basis that there was no proper explanation for the lengthy delay of about 10 months before Trifecta launched its application.

It is reported that following Scholtz’s conviction, the Asset Forfeiture Unit was granted a confiscation order of more than R6 million in respect of the profit Trifecta acquired from six lease agreements it got in corrupt ways. It was also granted a confiscation order of more than R53 million regarding an added advantage gained, as there were no competitive tender procedures followed.

The NPA has confirmed that the R59.8 million will be returned to National Treasury.

The charges that the pair were convicted of arose from lease agreements that were drawn up between May 2006 and August 2008.

They were sentenced to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment in 2016 and Judge Violet Phatsoane ordered that their sentences to run concurrently. – OFM News