Corruption case against Richard Mdluli and co-accused postponed to May

The fraud and corruption case involving former South African Police Service (Saps) crime intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli, and his two co-accused has been postponed to 11 May 2022.

Mdluli and his co-accused – former Saps supply chain manager Heine Barnard and former chief financial officer of the State Security Agency Solomon Lazarus – on Wednesday made a brief at the Pretoria High Court.

The trio faces charges of corruption, fraud and theft in connection with allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund.

They include payment of private trips to China and Singapore, private use of witness protection houses, conversion of this property for personal use and the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond, among other claims.

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The alleged crimes were committed between 2008 and 2012 when the accused was at the helm of the police crime intelligence services.

342A application

The high court on Wednesday was expected to hear an application brought by the state in terms of section 342A of the Criminal Procedure Act for unreasonable delay in the corruption trial due to several delays from Mdluli’s legal team.

This comes after Mdluli notified the court in February of his intention to take Saps’ decision declining funding for his legal costs on legal review.

Mdluli wants the Saps to pay for his legal fees because the criminal acts he is charged with happened while he was employed by the police.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigative Directorate (ID), the matter was postponed due to Mdluli not having filled his responses to the section 342A application.

“An unreasonable delay application was brought about by Mdluli planning to bring a review application to his former employer [SAPS] after he was denied legal funding,” ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said.

Seboka said the 342A application was set to be heard on 11 May.

“All the relevant parties will then respond to our filed papers,” she said.

Mdluli is currently serving a five-year sentence for his September 2020 conviction in connection with the kidnapping and assault of Oupa Ramogibe in 1999.

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