The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg postponed the corruption case against former African National Congress (ANC) member of Parliament, Vincent Smith so that he can finalise arrangements to pay his legal fees.
Judge Mohamed Ismail ordered this postponement to be final, saying the matter had been postponed on numerous occasions.
Smith is facing charges of contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act and fraud.
Investigating Directorate (also known as the Hawks) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Smith was initially charged with the former Bosasa COO, Angelo Agrizzi, but their cases were separated owing to Agrizzi’s ill-health.
“Smith is facing corruption charges in his personal capacity, as well as in his capacity as a sole director and shareholder of Euroblitz 48.
“His fraud charges emanate from his failure to disclose to the registrar of parliamentary members' interest, the gratification that he received from Bosasa pursuant to the alleged corrupt activities with which he, Euroblitz 48, and Agrizzi are charged for.
“He further failed to disclose the taxable income of Euroblitz between March 2009 and July 2018, allegedly totalling R28 million,” explained Mamothame.
Smith was released on R30,000 bail after he handed himself over to the police.
He is expected to make his next appearance on July 30, 2024.
Agrizzi previously testified at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that Smith’s daughter had cars booked for her.
The company also installed electric fences and CCTV that enabled off-site monitoring worth about R200,000 at Smith’s Roodepoort home.
One of the commission’s investigators also testified that Smith had removed some of the security equipment installed in his home by Bosasa after revelations at the inquiry, chaired by Justice Raymond Zondo.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
IOL News