POLOKWANE – The bail hearing of former Polokwane businessman Jacques Nell in the Polokwane regional court has been ongoing for over a week.
Col Christelle Stemmet fom the Hawks took the witness stand on Thursday.
Originally from the Western Cape, Stemmet is the project leader of the Hawks team sent to the province to investigate matters relating to the national government intervention in the provincial government’s financial and administration affairs.
She is a seasoned investigator with 24 years’ experience in the police, Scorpions and the Hawks.
She objected to bail being granted to Nell as he is regarded by the Hawks as a flight risk.
Stemmet said there was a prima facie case against Nell, with two dockets opened and eight sworn statements, and more cases were under investigation.
The dockets pertained to two “new” DocuTech machines for which Nell allegedly wanted to obtain finance for more than R9 million from Absa in 2009.
It is alleged that the same machines (with the same serial numbers) were, however, already bought from Bytes in 2003 and 2006.
Nell allegedly handed in two false tax invoices said to be from Pambili Documents Solutions.
Sworn affidavits were obtained from all parties involved, as well as a short-term insurer.
According to Stemmet, Nell had no permanent job, no immovable property, had applied for jobs abroad and was said to have plans to move to Australia.
The reason he was arrested was due to there being fear that he might flee the country, and as the details of more possible cases became known, the flight risk could increase, Stemmet testified.
Stemmet further testified that Nell could easily obtain another passport, as it was unfortunately easy in South Africa to obtain another, or a false, passport.
She said she had confirmation that Nell made plans to move permanently to Australia. She said it was not easy to have a person extradited from another country.
There were also fears that Nell might interfere with state witnesses, according to Stemmet.
While Nell testified in his affidavit that the family had two vehicles, she found evidence of four vehicles registered in his name.
She could not establish in whose name another vehicle, a Mercedes Vito bus was registered.
Nell testified under oath that he had no money except R20 000, and that the remainder after selling their property in Polokwane and honouring the bond was R650 000, the Hawks found the amount of R3 million paid in eight instalments into his wife, Lucille’s account from the buyer of the property.
His wife transferred money into Nell’s account from time to time.
While Nell said he had one company, Nellsons, his son was appointed as director of this company, as well as two other companies.
An Internet transaction amounting to R4,1 million was traced from a company called Textbooks Africa, the bank account of which could not yet be traced, and the amount was later paid back into his wife’s account.
Evidence of 20 million shares of a company, Terra Cotta Mining that were transferred to another person in September 2013, was found.
The worth of the shares was as yet unknown.
Nell’s attorney, Jannie Engelbrecht, claimed the shares were “worthless” and asked if the value had been established yet.
Stemmet told the court there was a long legal road still to follow to find out if Nell had an income or not for the last 14 months, as he claimed he had no income.
Nell’s wife testified that Nell had a possible stroke during mid-2013, and keeping him in jail might exacerbate the chances of him having another, possibly more serious stroke.
She said he was a good husband and father and the children looked to him for guidance.
There was also the possibility of him earning money to pay his legal fees and to maintain his family should he be released on bail.
Nell’s attorney refuted some claims made by the Hawks and asked why strict bail conditions could not be set.
He claimed there was no evidence that Nell was violent. While there were prospects of an income, neither Nell’s son or wife had the knowledge to conclude the business deals.
He said Nell, should he be required to travel abroad, would request permission from the court to do so.
Judge Janine Ungerer will deliver the bail application outcome on Thursday at 14:00.
