By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has overturned a high court ruling which dismissed the bribery and corruption trial of African National Congress (ANC) MP Bongani Bongo.
Bongo was accused of offering evidence leader Ntuthuzelo Vanara a bribe in Parliament’s 2017 inquiry probing state capture at Eskom.
SCA ruled that Judge John Hlophe made a mistake by discharging Bongo, saying that if mistakes were not made, there would have been a prima facie case.
Hlophe was impeached earlier this year after the Judicial Conduct Tribunal found him guilty of gross misconduct.
He acquitted Bongo, who had pleaded not guilty to two counts of corruption, in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The impeached judge found Vanara’s evidence against the MP did not implicate him in the crime of corruption, as defined by the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca).
But the NPA argued before the SCA that Bongo would have been convicted if he had testified in the inquiry.
In an unanimous ruling penned by acting Judge John Smith, the SCA agreed with the state’s argument.
“I am satisfied that there are reasonable prospects that the respondent would have been convicted of either the main or alternative charges mentioned in the indictment if the mistakes of law had not been made.”
“The evidence led by the state, at the very least, constituted prima facie evidence that the respondent had committed the crime of corruption.
“Vanara’s testimony established that the respondent had offered him gratification to induce him to commit a proscribed act, namely, to feign illness in order to delay or collapse a parliamentary committee inquiry,” the judgment reads.
According to Smith, Bongo had offered Vanara money “in the form of a blank cheque, namely that he was asked to name his price”.
The SCA concluded that Hlophe “erred” in his assessment of the evidence presented by the state during the trail.
The SCA, therefore, set aside Hlophe’s discharge of Bongo’s case and the matter must be remitted for retrial.
“The state is hereby granted leave to appeal against the refusal by the trial court to reserve the questions of law for determination by this court,” Smith ruled.
Meanwhile, Bongo faces charges in a separate case in the Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Mbombela.
The ANC MP and 11 other people, including four companies, are facing charges of fraud, theft and money laundering.
The charges stems from alleged illegal land deals connected to the Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements amounting to R74 million in 2011.