1 month ago
33
Whistleblower and former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi. (Gallo Images/Rapport/Elizabeth Sejake)
- Assets potentially purchased with the proceeds of crime involving "industrial-scale corruption" at Bosasa has been temporarily seized.
- Assets owned by the wives and children of former correctional services bosses Patrick Gillingham and Linda Mti are included.
- On 9 September, the court will hear the matter again and decide if the seizures should be made permanent.
Assets worth more than R53 million linked to Bosasa corruption have been temporarily attached by a curator and their team who, armed with a court order, arrived at properties around the country on Tuesday morning to serve court papers and create an inventory.
The curator is not being named due to safety concerns.
The assets identified include homes, cars as well as bank accounts, investments and shares in businesses belonging to the children and wives of several corruption-accused individuals – including former Bosasa bosses Angelo Agrizzi and Andries van Tonder, as well as former correctional services boss Linda Mti and former correctional services chief financial officer, Patrick Gillingham.
They were initially arrested in February 2019, shortly after Agrizzi finished bombshell testimony before the Zondo Commission into state capture, lifting the lid on what Zondo would later find was "industrial-scale corruption" at the Krugersdorp company.
Bosasa, the commission heard, had paid monthly bribes to a series of government officials at various departments to secure contracts. In exchange, the company secured more than R12 billion in payments from departments for a range of contracts between 2004 and 2018.
Gillingham, Mti, Agrizzi and Van Tonder were arrested for alleged bribes paid to the two correctional services bosses who allowed Bosasa to secure contracts at prisons worth more than R1.8 billion.
READ | Bosasa liquidation mired in dodgy dealings, leads to officials being suspended and fired
The charges stem from a 2007 Special Investigating Unit report that Bosasa, using its political influence, managed to suppress for more than a decade. Bosasa built houses for Gillingham, paid him and Mti in bundles of cash and purchased vehicles for their wives and children, according to court documents.
The asset seizures are temporary, with a court date set for 9 September 2024 at which time the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria will be asked to make the order final.
Until then, the defendants in the criminal case and their families will be able to file papers either opposing the court order or abiding by it.
According to court documents seen by News24, the court order compels the surrender of the assets in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act – anti-corruption legislation intended to prevent money laundering and organised crime activities.
