The lawyer representing Dinesh Patel, an accused in the Gupta-linked Nulane Investments case, said he would be demonstrating a "wholly irregular process" by police officers in relation to a search-and-seizure operation at the offices of one of the State's witnesses. On Wednesday, the Bloemfontein High Court heard testimony from the Free State head of agriculture, Takisi Masiteng, who was appointed in that position in 2020.
The National Prosecuting Authority's efforts to seek a postponement of its beleaguered Nulane fraud case have effectively been vetoed by the trial judge in a move that could mark the beginning of the end for this highly anticipated first state capture trial.
Within days of Gupta-linked Nulane Investments being paid for its 'sham' feasibility study by the Free State government, the State claims a total R19 million of the R24.9 million it received was transferred into accounts almost entirely under Atul Gupta’s control.
Gupta-linked Nulane Investments may have received an "excessive" R24.9 million payment for a discounted report it paid Deloitte R1.5 million to complete, but this was "not fraud", a lawyer for one of the accused has argued.
The lawyer representing Dinesh Patel, an accused in the Gupta-linked Nulane Investments case, said he would be demonstrating a 'wholly irregular process' by police officers in relation to a search-and-seizure operation at the offices of one of the State's witnesses.