LIVE | Judge slams NPA's Nulane 204 witness as dishonest, refuses to grant him indemnity from prosecution
Gusha now says there is clear evidence that Cezula came to the court"and lied". She refuses to grant him indemnity for his evidence.Gusha says there is also no evidence that Cezula had acted in concert with the other accused, who he did not know. She is critical of the State's failure to investigate the Worlds Window Impex letter that it claimed had informed the Nulane deviation.
"And at the later point, I remember getting a call on the landline…from the HOD [Thabethe] calling me on the landline and saying 'how far are you with this process because this thing must be done today'. And if anybody would say that was not pressure, it would be very unfortunate because it is quite unusual."According to Cezula, he had accompanied Dhlamini to the department's finance division to ensure that payment was made to Nulane.
"Because of that, she had to then dictate what needs to appear…in the deviation. As she was dictating to me what needs to appear in the document, I had to type…She is now in the office and this needs to be done now." The State further claims Nulane Investment subsequently changed the findings of the Deloitte-authored study to identify Paras – an Indian dairy farm allegedly linked to the Guptas – as the most suitable implementing partner for setting up a milk processing plant in Vrede, Free State. This was the genesis of the alleged Vrede Dairy Project scam in which millions intended for poor black farmers was allegedly looted by the State.
Edeling had earlier accused Mahlangu of deliberately not including a second version of the department's contract with Nulane in his witness statement.Gusha has spent a lot of time examining the conditions under which a section 174 discharge can be granted. She has made reference to Shrien Dewani's successful application for such a discharge in his murder trial and the judgment that informed that discharge.
The National Prosecuting Authority's Nulane trial will be a litmus test for if and how law enforcement can effectively tackle alleged state capture criminality – and, Karyn Maughan writes, it will also show the strength of the case against Atul and Rajesh Gupta.Acting Judge Nompumelelo Gusha begins her ruling on the Nulane accused's application for a section 174 discharge.
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