blunomore
Honorary Master
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article746045.ece/ANC-provincial-boss-bust-for-tender-fraud
ANC heavyweight and Northern Cape finance MEC John Block will spend the weekend in jail after being arrested yesterday in connection with fraud and money-laundering.
Block and eight others appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate's Court yesterday on allegations of tender fraud amounting to more than R40-million involving water-purification and oxygen-generating plants - sold at prices said to be vastly inflated - to state hospitals in Northern Cape.
In September, the Sunday Times revealed that Block - the ANC provincial chairman who served as Northern Cape premier twice this year - was implicated in a corruption case involving hundreds of millions of rands that spans five provinces in South Africa as well as Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Others arrested this year include suspended Ithala bank CEO and former KwaZulu-Natal treasurer Sipho Shabalala, his wife Beatrice, and senior provincial Health Department officials.
National Prosecuting Authority boss Menzi Simelane dropped a bombshell yesterday in a packed courtroom in Kimberley when he opposed bail for Block and his co-accused, Uruguyan tycoon Gaston Savoi.
Savoi is the CEO of multinational hospital equipment supply company Intaka.
Simelane demanded bail of R500000 each for the other accused: Fernando Graderi, Ansano Romani, Ronald Geddes, Sanjay Mitha, Deon Madyo, Daniel Gaborone and Nelmarie Oosthuizen.
Savoi and Block will remain in custody until their bail application is heard on Tuesday.
Block was forced to resign as MEC for transport and provincial ANC leader in 2004 after the Sunday Times reported that he had used taxpayers' money to attend a jazz festival in Cape Town and to pay for accommodation for himself and his wife at a luxury hotel.
He was also accused of channeling multimillion-rand tenders to Sedibeng Construction, a company owned by Charles Modise, who introduced Block to his wife.
Modise is the man who claimed that he gave R500000 in a black bag to SA Communist Party general secretary, and minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande a few years ago.
Simelane said Block should be denied bail because he wielded influence as a senior politician and could interfere with government officials who were potential witnesses.
Block was "under investigation" in other cases, and more charges were likely to brought against him, Simelane told the court.
The case has snowballed as investigators uncover new evidence.
"It's actually scary," Simelane said. "We don't know what we're dealing with. It's growing legs."
Simelane said there would be a public outcry if bail for the suspects were set at a small amount.
"Society's disgust with this type of crime is such that there will be a public outcry," he said.
"The state and the public are gatvol."
But lawyers for Block and the other accused said that Simelane was reneging on agreements struck with the NPA and the police to the effect that their clients would be released on R20000 bail each.
The suspects are accused of colluding to award massive tenders improperly, inflating prices of goods and services up to seven fold and of creating shell companies for the laundering of kickbacks.
ANC heavyweight and Northern Cape finance MEC John Block will spend the weekend in jail after being arrested yesterday in connection with fraud and money-laundering.
Block and eight others appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate's Court yesterday on allegations of tender fraud amounting to more than R40-million involving water-purification and oxygen-generating plants - sold at prices said to be vastly inflated - to state hospitals in Northern Cape.
In September, the Sunday Times revealed that Block - the ANC provincial chairman who served as Northern Cape premier twice this year - was implicated in a corruption case involving hundreds of millions of rands that spans five provinces in South Africa as well as Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Others arrested this year include suspended Ithala bank CEO and former KwaZulu-Natal treasurer Sipho Shabalala, his wife Beatrice, and senior provincial Health Department officials.
National Prosecuting Authority boss Menzi Simelane dropped a bombshell yesterday in a packed courtroom in Kimberley when he opposed bail for Block and his co-accused, Uruguyan tycoon Gaston Savoi.
Savoi is the CEO of multinational hospital equipment supply company Intaka.
Simelane demanded bail of R500000 each for the other accused: Fernando Graderi, Ansano Romani, Ronald Geddes, Sanjay Mitha, Deon Madyo, Daniel Gaborone and Nelmarie Oosthuizen.
Savoi and Block will remain in custody until their bail application is heard on Tuesday.
Block was forced to resign as MEC for transport and provincial ANC leader in 2004 after the Sunday Times reported that he had used taxpayers' money to attend a jazz festival in Cape Town and to pay for accommodation for himself and his wife at a luxury hotel.
He was also accused of channeling multimillion-rand tenders to Sedibeng Construction, a company owned by Charles Modise, who introduced Block to his wife.
Modise is the man who claimed that he gave R500000 in a black bag to SA Communist Party general secretary, and minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande a few years ago.
Simelane said Block should be denied bail because he wielded influence as a senior politician and could interfere with government officials who were potential witnesses.
Block was "under investigation" in other cases, and more charges were likely to brought against him, Simelane told the court.
The case has snowballed as investigators uncover new evidence.
"It's actually scary," Simelane said. "We don't know what we're dealing with. It's growing legs."
Simelane said there would be a public outcry if bail for the suspects were set at a small amount.
"Society's disgust with this type of crime is such that there will be a public outcry," he said.
"The state and the public are gatvol."
But lawyers for Block and the other accused said that Simelane was reneging on agreements struck with the NPA and the police to the effect that their clients would be released on R20000 bail each.
The suspects are accused of colluding to award massive tenders improperly, inflating prices of goods and services up to seven fold and of creating shell companies for the laundering of kickbacks.
