Agrizzi on ventilator and cuffed to bed
CORRUPTION accused, former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi is currently under the watchful eye of as many as nine armed guards at the ICU of a Johannesburg private hospital where he is receiving medical attention after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday.
This was revealed yesterday by his lawyer, Daniel Witz, who said Agrizzi was confined to his hospital bed by a leg cuff despite the fact that he was breathing through a ventilator connected to a drip and undergoing dialysis.
“There’s about nine armed guards, including three stationed physically in his intensive care room, for whatever reason, we’re not certain why.”
On his client’s condition, Witz said Agrizzi had been stabilised through the night on Thursday, and he had not received any other updates, “so I suppose no news is good news”.
With Agrizzi’s bail application appeal hearing set for Monday morning at the Johannesburg High Court, Witz said they would now argue that Agrizzi had not only been treated in an inhumane way as a person fighting for his life, but that this was not conducive to his medical treatment.
At his bail application which was denied last week, Agrizzi appeared before the court in a seemingly frail state, with a small oxygen tank.
He was deemed a flight risk by magistrate Philip Venter following argument by the State that he had not disclosed that he had moved millions into offshore bank accounts in Italy, while also purchasing property and a car there.
After Agrizzi had been hospitalised following the denial of his bail application by the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, Witz said that if the State was so worried about him attempting to evade justice, it could have placed him under house arrest.
He said it was unnecessary to “put another person in our already overcrowded prisons” as Agrizzi’s medical condition was deteriorating.
Speaking to Independent Media yesterday, Witz reiterated his stance that the circumstances leading to Agrizzi’s hospitalisation after he was denied bail could have been avoided had the NPA and the court considered conditional release rather than direct imprisonment.
Witz said Agrizzi’s family had been disappointed by how he had been treated by the State despite coming forward with information key to the state capture commission.
“His family’s main concern is his health at the moment, but they’re obviously disappointed after all that Mr Agrizzi’s done over the past two years for the State and the prosecutors and assisting the government.
“They’re really disappointed in that he can just be thrown to the wolves like this.”
Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo bemoaned that the security details around Agrizzi being remanded in hospital had been given out, as this constituted breach of security protocols.
“We have a duty and responsibility to ensure humane incarceration and