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Chetty and his co-accused appeared in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria.
Tax evasion and fraud accused Kishene Chetty. Picture: X/@RantsSouth
Businessman Kishene Chetty and his co-accused have been dealt a significant blow after their application to consolidate several cases of fraud, forgery, money laundering, and other charges of dishonesty was struck off the roll with costs.
Chetty and his co-accused appeared in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria on Monday.
The matter pertains to the procurement of toners for the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape provinces between 2015 and 2016, resulting in a loss of more than R800 000 to the police.
Charges
The NPA’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) spokesperson, Henry Mamothame, said Chetty and his accused wanted the charges consolidated, arguing that the charges in all the cases were similar.
“Counsel for the NPA’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption objected when the legal representatives of Chetty and others attempted to hand in four new lever arch files , which were not provided to the court and the state in preparation for the hearing.
“The state argued that in law, an applicant can file a supplementary only if they obtain leave to do so from a court, following a substantive application,” Mamothame said.
ALSO READ: PPE tender fraud and corruption case against Kishene Chetty postponed
Criminal matter
Mamothame said the judge also questioned if it was correct for a criminal matter to be presided over by a civil court.
“This outcome will provide progress in the cases that Chetty and his co-accused are facing, as they have been postponed pending this ruling”.
R56m police vehicle branding fraud case
Chetty and his co-accused are facing 456 charges, including racketeering, fraud, corruption, theft, forgery and money laundering.
Among the accused are police officials who allegedly participated in the fraudulent tender process, as well as 22 companies and their directors.
The former head of police supply chain management, Lieutenant General Ramahlapi Mokwena and three brigadiers are also among the accused in this matter.
The matter stems from another R56 million tender fraud case, in which procurement documents were allegedly tampered with in a tender for the branding of police vehicles.
Falsified quotations were allegedly provided to the South African Police Service.
ALSO READ: R56m police vehicle branding fraud case set for pre-trial
