POLOKO TAU AND SAPA
RIVALRY in the bakery business is believed to be at the centre of a case in which a businessman, police officers, lawyers and prosecutors were arrested last week.
They were among 13 people who appeared at the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Friday on 40 charges including corruption, racketeering, extortion, defeating the ends of justice and conspiracy to commit perjury, committed between January 2009 and last December.
The prosecution alleges the group was involved in activities related to false cases opened against rivals of a bakery owner. The State said in court that accused number one, bakery owner Sean Tuna, and co-accused Ayub Mohammed were the “main drivers” in the operation.
State prosecutor Patrick Nkuna said it was alleged that people connected to a businessman, “Sergio Gonsalves”, were arrested and cases opened against them as a “strategy to pressure and induce them to falsely implicate “Gonsalves” in crimes he was not involved in.
“From evidence, it became clear that (Tuna) commanded a certain influence in the West Rand Organised Crime Unit. (He committed the alleged crimes) with the assistance of certain attorneys as well as members of the NPA based at the Protea Magistrate’s Court.”
A lawyer from BDK Attorneys, Ulrich Roux, said BDK represented nine accused: Tuna, police officers Edward Cock and Johan Smit, Tuna’s employees Ashfaq Mashi and Naveet Mashi; Vusi Masina, retired prosecutor Andre Lamprecht, the Protea court’s senior prosecutor Adriaan Lamprecht and attorney Renier Spies.
Not represented by BDK are attorney Fatima Kolia, court orderly and police officer Modise Michael Mathibe, Takalani Samson and Moshe Moses Matsau.
“The matter relates to a case in which Spies was an attorney for Tuna in a case where charges have been opened against his competitor. We can’t give much around the case at the moment because we have not yet been supplied with the contents of the docket,” Roux said.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga was not able to respond to The Star’s request for information about the charges.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela referred The Star to Mhaga, who did not respond to calls, SMSes and e-mails sent to him.
Mhaga said on Friday that the allegations related to false cases against rivals of a man who ran a bakery business, apparently to eliminate competition by people who had left his company to start their own. He said the man was accused of colluding to open false cases and of preventing those who were arrested from getting bail.
Roux said his firm aimed to clear their clients of all charges.
Nine of the accused were granted bail of between R1 000 and R30 000, except for Ashfaq and Naveet Mashi. The two were expected to formally apply for bail on Thursday.
Masina’s matter was rolled over. Three other members of the syndicate were not in court.
The case is expected back in court on November 1.