30 Jan 2013
\nIngrid Oellermann<\/p>\n
AN ecstatic Pamela Bosman-Zulu is off the hook on corruption and related charges, which were withdrawn against her in the high court in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.<\/p>\n
The former chief financial officer of the KZN Treasury and Education Department was due to go on trial yesterday alongside high-flying KZN businessman Jabulani Mabaso, who faces allegations of corruption, forgery, fraud and money laundering involving around R200 million.<\/p>\n
The charges against him arise from the award of a tender to his former company, Indiza Infrastructure Solutions (Pty) Ltd, to act as an agent to supply books and stationery to schools in the province. The company has since been liquidated.<\/p>\n
When the case started before acting high court Judge Kobus Booyens yesterday, state advocate Ayesha Bissessur told the court that having heard representations made on Bosman-Zulu\u2019s behalf during talks between the state and defence on Monday, the state had decided to withdraw all charges against her.<\/p>\n
The decision meant the state had to draw up an amended indictment against Mabaso yesterday, which is expected to be ready today.
\nHugging her partner, Lindelani Makhaye, and her attorney, Naren Sangham, as she left court, Bosman-Zulu told The Witness she was delighted that her four-year ordeal was finally over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been four years of sheer trauma having these charges hanging over my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she was glad to have been vindicated and planned to put the trail behind her and pick up the pieces of her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has happened today should have happened three years ago. There was no basis at all to charge her,\u201d Sangham told The Witness.<\/p>\n
He said that during his discussions with the state legal team on Monday, they conceded that the representations made on Bosman-Zulu\u2019s behalf were valid.
\n\u201cThey required me to produce annexures to the representations, which consisted of 173 pages. I submitted them and pointed out the flaws in their case and they said they will consider the matter. At 2.30 pm yesterday they conceded that there isn\u2019t a case against her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sangham said a money-laundering charge facing Bosman-Zulu involving the late Gauteng businessman, Sandi Majali (who was managing director of the Imvume Group) had not been sustainable, even before his death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money was paid into the trust account of an attorney, Barry Aaron, who was given an open mandate by Sandi Majali to deal with the money,\u201d he said.
\nSangham said Majali had owed Bosman-Zulu a substantial amount of money in respect of professional services she had rendered to him and various companies in his lifetime. In part payment of that debt, a sum of money was paid over by Aaron to a motor car company from which Bosman-Zulu bought a car for her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was absolutely nothing sinister or untoward about it. She is still owed a substantial sum of money by Majali and she has lodged a claim against his estate to recover that debt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Advocate Willie Vermeulen SC, for Mabaso, yesterday expressed displeasure at the further delay in the start of the trial.<\/p>\n
He told Booyens the state\u2019s camp appeared to be \u201cin disarray\u201d with the case having been on the roll for the past seven years. Now Mabaso was to be faced with a \u201cfundamentally amended\u201d indictment when the trial was already due to start.<\/p>\n
The judge agreed to postpone the case until today, but placed the prosecution on terms to get the trial started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
30 Jan 2013 Ingrid Oellermann AN ecstatic Pamela Bosman-Zulu is off the hook on corruption and related charges, which were withdrawn against her in the high court in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. The former chief financial officer of the KZN Treasury and Education Department was due to go on trial yesterday alongside high-flying KZN businessman Jabulani Mabaso, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n