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INLSA<\/p>\n
Mike Mabuyakhulu Peggy Nkonyeni<\/p>\n
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Economic Development MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and KwaZulu-Natal legislature Speaker Peggy Nkon- yeni may be let off the hook on racketeering and corruption charges in the \u201cAmigos trial\u201d. <\/p>\n
The Mercury has been told by several independent sources that Richard Mrwebi, recently appointed by President Jacob Zuma to head the National Prosecuting Authority\u2019s commercial crime unit, was reviewing the decision to prosecute the two high-profile ANC politicians. <\/p>\n
This was even though the case has already been set down for trial later this year before retired judge Ron McLaren, and all the accused being given the 112 000-page forensic audit to begin preparing their defences. <\/p>\n
The Mercury understands Mrwebi recently called a meeting to discuss the \u201cAmigos trial\u201d, and he was expected to make a decision on prosecuting Mabuyakhulu and Nkonyeni soon. <\/p>\n
However, NPA spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said: \u201cAdvocate Mrwebi has not made any decision about this matter because it falls under the director of public prosecutions in KZN. We are not at liberty to discuss matters pending before court as the matter has been set down for trial.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mrwebi is the former KZN Scorpions boss. He has been named in recent media reports as the man who authorised the provisional withdrawal of fraud charges against crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, who is believed to be a staunch supporter of the president. <\/p>\n
Mabuyakhulu and Nkonyeni were arrested in August last year \u2013 almost a year after most of the other 21 accused, including the alleged \u201cmain man\u201d, Cape Town businessman Gaston Savoi, were nabbed. <\/p>\n
Through his company Intaka Holdings, Savoi is alleged to have paid sweeteners to secure contracts to provide water purification plants and oxygen machines to the KZN health and local government departments at hugely inflated prices. <\/p>\n
All have been charged with racketeering, with the final indictment alleging they conspired to commit corruption, fraud and money laundering with a potential cost to the provincial government of about R144 million. <\/p>\n
Mabuyakhulu \u2013 the local government MEC and ANC treasurer at the time of the alleged offences \u2013 faces corruption charges relating to an alleged R1m \u201cdonation\u201d Savoi gave then treasury head Sipho Shabalala, which is said to have been laundered through the trust account of advocate Sandile Kuboni. Nkonyeni, the former health MEC, is accused of taking two amounts of R500 000 from Savoi for her \u201cinfluence\u201d in the procurement process. <\/p>\n
A source, who wished to remain anonymous, said Mrwebi, not the provincial NPA bosses, was \u201casking the questions and he will make the call\u201d on whether the two would be prosecuted. <\/p>\n
He pointed out that the two were the only remaining accused who were still active in politics and government, the rest having all retired, resigned or been fired. <\/p>\n
Savoi\u2019s lawyer, George van Niekerk, said he had heard rumours that \u201cthey are relooking at charges and that certain accused could fall out\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has just been talk though. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf this happens, it will be interesting to see what charges are left. It will have an impact on the other accused.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said the trial was set for October and the Hawks had not received any correspondence suggesting any charges would be withdrawn. <\/p>\n
The other accused in the matter are: former Health Department officials Ronald Green-Thompson, Yolisa Mbele and Busi Nyembezi, former supply-chain management head Victor Ntshangase, former health chief financial officer Alson Buthelezi, Savoi\u2019s business associate Fernando Praderi, advocate Sandile Kuboni and three lawyers who took over his practice \u2013 Nozibele Phindela, Jabulani Thusi and Ian Blose \u2013 Sipho Shabalala and his wife, Ntombi, and Nkonyeni\u2019s boyfriend, Lindelihle Mkhwanazi. Five companies, including Intaka Holdings and Kuboni Shezi Attorneys, are also accused. <\/p>\n
Two other business associates of Savoi pleaded guilty, admitting they had submitted false cover quotes to the KZN Health Department to legitimise his inflated prices for the water purification plants. Ansano Romani and Donald Miller received effective fines of R50 000 each. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA Mike Mabuyakhulu Peggy Nkonyeni Economic Development MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and KwaZulu-Natal legislature Speaker Peggy Nkon- yeni may be let off the hook on racketeering and corruption charges in the \u201cAmigos trial\u201d. The Mercury has been told by several independent sources that Richard Mrwebi, recently appointed by President Jacob Zuma to head the National Prosecuting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-10098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}