Pretoria - Controversial former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi’s R1.8 billion fraud and corruption case was postponed yet again at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on Friday and set down for October.
Agrizzi and his co-accused, former Correctional Services chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham and former commissioner Linda Mti, briefly appeared in court facing a series of charges relating to fraud and corruption.
The case involves four prison tenders awarded to the embattled Bosasa and its subsidiaries between 2004 and 2007. The tender was for the procurement of catering and training services, the installation of CCTV cameras, perimeter fencing, and supplying television systems and monitoring equipment in the prison.
Agrizzi was not in court, and has not been in court recently due to apparent ill-health since October 2020.
The case has been postponed a number of times and was last postponed in May at the request of Mti and Gillingham, who asked the court they needed time to look into their finances for their legal representatives.
National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Twala-Seboka, said in an interview that the directorate had written to the high court to protest against the continued postponements. The NPA had also filed two applications regarding Agrizzi’s fitness to appear in court.
She said: “The matter was postponed to October 3 because the State has filed two applications. We filed a section 57 and a section 34 (2a) for an application of unreasonable delay.
“We have had enough of the constant delays, more particularly because of Agrizzi. We have asked the court to find out if there is a ulterior motive or something sinister in these delays … ”
The State has since appointed its own physician to examine Agrizzi, and has vowed that it still planned to prosecute him.
Twala Seboka added: “Even if the State’s own physician assesses Mr Agrizzi, we are bringing this application nonetheless.
“So it will require the subpoena of either of the doctors to determine whether we are being played or there is a sinister reason why Mr Agrizzi has not come to court.”
Pretoria News