The multi-billion rand Eskom fraud, corruption and money laundering case against former Eskom boss Matshela Koko and others was struck from the district court roll yesterday.

Magistrate Stanley Jacobs found that the state was unreasonably delaying the matter to go to trial, by insisting on another postponement to finalise the docket and indictments.

Magistrate Jacobs ruled that the matter may only be re-enrolled upon written instruction by the national director of public prosecutions.

In March, he said that no further postponements would be granted, resulting in a court review of the state’s readiness to proceed to trial.

In all, the 18 accused, including Koko’s wife Mosima and daughters Koketso Aren and Thato Choma, as well as local attorney Chris Coetzee, among others, faced 252 preliminary charges, as well as possible indictments for racketeering.

The state, however, indicated that the matter was not ready to proceed to trial in the High Court, due to three reports – a data report, forensic audit report and Bowmans Attorneys money-flow report – still outstanding.

All accused, with the exception of one, were arrested on October 27, 2022, with the first six-month postponement granted on March 23, during which the state sought another six-month postponement to September 4.

In March, the court warned that come September, the matter would be taken under review for trial readiness, with the possible refusal of any further postponements.

Ironically, the accused appeared more in court during the review than in the ‘housekeeping’ phase in the District Court, before being bounced to the High Court in Gauteng for trial.

The matter was ultimately postponed until yesterday for judgement, with continued problems like load-shedding between 13:00 and 15:00, forcing Magistrate Jacobs to abandon delivering his full judgment, with him rendering a summary judgement instead.

When court resumed at 15:00, Magistrate Jacobs said he’d avail his full written judgment to those in attendance, opting to expedite his ruling by striking the matter from the roll.

He found the state had indeed delayed progress to trial unreasonably.

He refused any further postponement, ruling that the matter could only be reinstated with written approval from the National Prosecuting Authority head.

Magistrate Jacobs said he would not entertain any cost applications by the defence.

The accused all faced charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering, relating to an Eskom contract awarded to Swiss-based engineering company Asia Brown Boveri (ABB), during the construction of the Kusile Power Plant.

ABB agreed to return R1.5b to Eskom but has since said it would ringfence R6b to cover further costs as investigations into more irregularities progress.

It’s alleged that Koko promised ABB further contracts worth billions, in return for millions in kickbacks.

Defence teams, however, successfully argued that the court would be in contempt of its own March order by granting a further postponement of four months for the state to finalise the docket and hand over discovery for the accused to prepare for trial, which would have inevitably led to further postponements, which the High Court would be very reluctant to grant.

Magistrate Jacobs acknowledged that the investigation was not your run-of-the-mill type, but actually extremely complex, with the draft charge sheet comprising 136 pages.

Koko could not contain his satisfaction after the ruling, venturing into the public gallery to hug and thank supporters.

He maintains his innocence.