Magistrate s corruption
Trial postponed again
CONFUSION over Midrand magistrate Johannes Kgomo ’ s defence counsel has again delayed his corruption trial.
The case was set to continue this month after the trial ran for a week in February ‚ but yesterday magistrate Albertus Roux and prosecutor Michelle Bayat said they were forced to give up on the trial proceeding as planned.
Kgomo is facing two charges of corruption after allegedly soliciting a bribe of R500 000 from Paul Mthabela to help Mthabela dodge extradition to Botswana.
Kgomo ‚ who recently broke ties with his lawyer ‚ arrived at the Johannesburg Magistrate ’ s Court without a legal team. His new attorney ‚ Phulusi Maeyane ‚ arrived at court later on in the morning ‚ but without an advocate to instruct.
This ‚ Roux said ‚ was “a concern to the court ” as he believed Kgomo was only replacing his attorney ‚ and not his advocate too.
Maeyane told the court that Kgomo ’ s previous advocate had informed him that he was not available to continue with Kgomo ’ s trial on the days it had been set down for.
He also created the impression that he would not be available to represent Kgomo at any other date in the future ‚ he said.
Roux postponed the case last week to give Kgomo time to find new legal representation ‚ but yesterday the court heard that Kgomo had only approached Maeyane by telephone on Monday.
Kgomo said that he had experienced difficulty in securing an attorney of his preference and that the “long weekend ” had hindered him in making arrangements.
Mthabela ‚ who is a witness in the attempted murder trial of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir and five others ‚ previously told the court that he had paid Kgomo for assistance in stopping his extradition to Botswana ‚ where he faced fraud charges for allegedly stealing R17-million from a government medical aid scheme.
The case has been postponed to June 23 for Kgomo to secure an advocate and to set a new trial date. –