In April 2022, Free State High Court Judge Nompumelelo Gusha discharged seven accused including former government officials, and service providers, and acquitted one suspect of all charges levelled.
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As widely anticipated, the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday punished the State for its failure to prove its case against those accused in the R24.9-million Nulane Investments trial. The accused in the case – the first State Capture Gupta-related case before court – are now discha.
Judgment in the application by seven of the eight accused in the first Gupta-linked state capture trial in the Bloemfontein High Court is expected on 12 April. Lawyers for the accused argued there was a lack of evidence, but the state hit back, saying there was common purpose to defraud.
The lawyers representing the accused, including former officials of the Free State Agriculture Department, who allegedly paid millions of rands to the so-called Gupta Lieutenant Iqbal Sharma's Nula.