INLSA
Fashionably dressed Shauwn Mpisane, with matching bag and accessories, walks to the dock in the Durban Regional Court yesterday.
Tax fraud and corruption accused Shauwn Mpisane’s lawyers launched a scathing attack on the prosecution team yesterday, saying their conduct in the case was “beyond negligent and self-serving”.
This was argued by Mpisane’s advocate, Jimmy Howse, in an application asking Durban Regional Court magistrate Blessing Msani to hold an inquiry into whether or not the State was causing an unreasonable delay in the case.
Mpisane and her company, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, are facing more than 100 tax fraud charges involving R4.7 million.
The State alleges Mpisane, using forged invoices, made fraudulent misrepresentations about the annual financial statements and income tax return for the year ending February 2008 to the SA Revenue Service.
Last week two further charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice for allegedly persuading a State witness to alter evidence, which is to be used in the main case, were added.
The tax fraud trial has been set down for three weeks but hit a snag yesterday when the State asked for an adjournment as it wanted the corruption and defeating counts and other new charges – which emerged after a further audit of the company – to be added to the charge sheet.
The State says the audit was carried out after Mpisane submitted a plea explanation in which she blamed the forged invoices on her bookkeeper ,Kushal Reddy.
Yesterday drama preceded the defence’s application as The Mercury’s photographer, Marilyn Bernard, was manhandled by a man after she took a picture of Mpisane in court.
The media had obtained permission from Msani to take pictures in the courtroom when the court was not in session.
The man grabbed the photographer’s camera and only relented after he was warned by State advocate Meera Naidu and a plainclothes police officer.
Before the incident, the case had to be briefly adjourned as Mpisane refused to come into court because her lawyers said she did not want photographs taken.
In their application, Mpisane’s attorney, Phila Magwaza, said in an affidavit that the State was trying to add new charges to prove a different case against Mpisane related to the misrepresentation or inflation of Zikhulise’s expenses.
Magwaza said the trial should proceed and the State could prosecute the new charges separately.
“The available resources will be better employed by proceeding with the present matter and ordering the State to prosecute the new charge if and when it gets its house in order,” he said.
He added that Mpisane was being severely prejudiced by the behaviour of the State and the police.
“The decision-making by the State has been ill-considered and arbitrary. The decisions have never been made with due regard to the interests of the accused and the interests of justice.”
The case was adjourned to Friday for the State’s reply to the application.
