Court clips Agrizzi’s wings
• R30m moved to offshore accounts • Italian passport not disclosed
SHOCKING details of how former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi shipped millions of cash out of South Africa into offshore accounts, including the purchase of a house and a luxury vehicle in Italy, was enough for the Palm Ridge Commercial Crimes Court in Gauteng to deny him bail.
Adding more to his troubles, the court heard that Agrizzi was defaulting on his R13.5 million house in Helderfontein Estate and was owing a local bank an outstanding amount of R8.1m.
This was in an affidavit of investigating officer Lieutenant- Colonel Bernardus Lazarus submitted in court by the prosecution in its bid to deny Agrizzi bail. Lazarus is also the investigator in the R1.9 billion case against Agrizzi and four others for their role in the illegal acquiring of tenders at the Department of Correctional Services between 2004 and 2006.
The alleged fraud and corruption were uncovered by the Special Investigating Unit ( SIU) after a presidential proclamation but no action was taken against Agrizzi and his accomplices. He was granted R20 000 bail after he told the Pretoria Special Commercial Crimes Court he was the legal owner of Helderfontein Estate and had movable assets worth R2.65m.
Yesterday, however, the tables turned against Agrizzi when the prosecution revealed that he and his wife Debbie did not have property registered in their name. According to the prosecution, the Helderfontein Estate property belonged to the Agrizzi Family Trust.
In his affidavit, Lazarus also said Agrizzi misrepresented his movable assets, saying during his investigations they realised that Agrizzi had more than R8m movable assets which he did not disclose in his initial court application.
The court also heard that between December 2018 and January 3 last year Agrizzi moved large amounts of money to offshore accounts. The prosecution led evidence that Agrizzi continued to ship out the cash despite facing the initial criminal charge in February last year following his explosive testimony at the Zondo Commission. The court also heard that Agrizzi had been in possession of an Italian passport but failed to disclose it to the police. Lazarus said Agrizzi has more than R24m worth of assets in offshore accounts including a house and a luxury vehicle in Italy.
The court also heard the last amount of R30m was deposited in an offshore account belonging to his wife in March. All these factors prompted magistrate Philip Venter to agree with the prosecution that Agrizzi was a flight risk.
The investigators were adamant that Agrizzi’s purpose was to flee the country and live an expensive lifestyle beyond the borders of South Africa.
In passing judgment on the bail application, magistrate Venter asked Agrizzi: “Why hide? Why not disclose your role in the movement of cash on two occasions during your initial bail application in February 2019 and the recent application?”
According to Venter, Agrizzi must be held accountable and the State must be able to recover all the funds that were misappropriated at Bosasa while he was still employed there. He reminded the people in the gallery that the government was still struggling to extradite the Guptas, saying he did not want to add his name among those people who contribute to Agrizzi’s fleeing the country. He was ordered to appear again on December 3.
Earlier, advocate Mannie Witz SC made a failed attempt to secure Agrizzi’s freedom, arguing that the prosecution had failed to inform them prior to their application they would oppose bail.
He said Agrizzi was co- operating with the state capture commission. Witz also said his client was co- operating with the SIU and the SA Revenue Service on all matters, and had no intention of fleeing South Africa.
In reply to claims Agrizzi failed to disclose his Italian passport, Witz said his client had lost the passport, which was later confirmed by the Italian consulate. He also asked the court to consider Agrizzi’s medical condition, saying he needed permanent oxygen to help him breathe.
But the State asked the magistrate to reject the application as Agrizzi did not disclose a number of assets offshore.