Pretoria - Five accused in the R24.9 million money laundering Gupta-linked Nulane Investment case had their charges dismissed by the Bloemfontein High Court on Friday.
The charges were dismissed after the five accused successfully applied last month for the charges to be dropped in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
According to Section 174, an accused person can bring an application against the state to be be acquitted if the state fails to make its case.
Meanwhile, the sixth accused who did not apply for a discharge, former Free State agriculture head Limakatso Moorosi, was acquitted from the matter.
Acting Judge Nompumelelo Gusha slammed the state over its poor treatment of essential documents which were imperative for the case, which led the records to be found inadmissible.
News24 cited Gusha saying it was "an inescapable fact" that nearly R25m left the ficus, yet, the state has failed to show what happened to that money.
“No evidence was proffered to this court with regards to when, why, and by whom the documents were altered,” The Citizen quoted Gusha as saying.
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID) has indicated that it will weigh its options on the matter.
‘’We will be reflecting on the judgment with a view to determine legal avenues to explore. The outcome of this case has no bearing on our ability to prosecute other state capture cases.
“We remain resolute in our commitment and ability to vigorously prosecute those responsible for state capture and corruption,” said investigating directorate head, advocate Andrea Johnson.
ID spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka said the matter pertained to procurement fraud involving R24.9m paid between November 2011 and April 2012 by the Free State Department of Agriculture (FSDoA) to Nulane Investment 204 (Pty) Ltd, a company owned and controlled by businessman and Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma.
She said from there the funds were diverted to Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty) Ltd (Islandsite).
“The R24.9m was paid to Nulane purportedly to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work,” Seboka said.
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