The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has overturned the Free State High Court’s decision to acquit all the accused in the R25 million Nulane Investments fraud and money laundering case. 

The SCA set aside the High Court ruling that ended in eight accused walking free on April 2023, after the court ruled that there was no case to answer under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

This was after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) filed an appeal to reverse the judgment.

The SCA ordered that the accused be tried before a different judge.

The matter relates to the payments that the Free State government made to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study that led to the controversial and failed Gupta-linked Vrede Diary farm project. 

The suspects included government officials and Gupta-linked associates. 

Iqbal Sharma and his company Nulane Investment, former head of the Free State Department of Agriculture (FSDoA), Peter Thabethe, former head of FSDoA Limakatso Moorosi, former FSDoA Chief Financial Officer Seipati Dhlamini, Ronica Ragavan and the company she represents owned by the Gupta’s Islandsite Investment, and Dinesh Patel who is Sharma’s brother-in-law and a representative of Nulane Investment.

“It is ordered that the first to seventh respondents may be retried for the same offences in respect of which they were acquitted by the Free State High Court on April 21, 2023, as if they had not previously been arraigned, tried and acquitted: provided that a different judge shall preside over the trial,” read the judgment. 

NPA spokesperson, Mthunzi Mhaga, said this judgment confirms their view that the acting judge, Nompumelelo Gusha, misdirected herself in applying the relevant principles with regard to the case and erred in her strong criticism of the prosecution team.

Mhaga said the judgment paves the way for the NPA’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) to reinstate the case within a reasonable period, adding that the NPA remains resolute in its stance of effectively prosecuting and holding accountable those responsible for state capture-related corruption.

“Beyond this important case, IDAC has made significant progress in its efforts to ensure accountability for serious and complex corruption and related crimes stemming from the state capture era. It has enrolled 50 cases, declared 133 investigations and partnered with the Asset Forfeiture Unit to obtain freezing and preservation orders amounting to R14.3 billion with R8.2bn in confiscation orders deposited to the Criminal Asset Recovery Account (CARA),” Mhaga said. 

He said IDAC has made progress on several other matters and aims to enroll several new cases in the coming months. 

“Since becoming permanent and with requisite criminal investigative powers in August 2024, IDAC has expanded its capacity to enable it to deliver effectively on its prosecution-led mandate. It also has established an innovative partnership giving it access to a world-class digital evidence unit that bolsters its ability to extract data from encrypted digital devices to be used as admissible evidence in its cases.”

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za

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