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Seven accused in Free State asbestos corruption case released on bail

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The seven accused in the R255 million asbestos corruption matter will appear again in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court in the Free State on the 11th of next month.

They have been released on bail ranging between R50 000 and R500 000. The accused have been ordered to surrender their passports. The Hawks arrested six of them on Wednesday during operations in the Free State, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. The seventh suspect handed himself over  at the Alberton police station East of Johannesburg  on Thursday.

This follows evidence presented at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry around his relationship with African Global Operations, formerly known as Bosasa.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)  says investigations are continuing and further arrests are expected.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigating Unit’s Kaizer Kganyago says they have solid evidence against the accused.

“The SIU started investigating this matter sometime in 2019 and then we were working under Proclamation 39 of 2019 which gave us powers to investigate this matter. While we were doing that we saw a lot of criminality and we roped in the Hawks immediately so that we started working together and we then came to this point where we are in the same operation where they are the ones arresting because we don’t have arresting powers and we are now supporting them with the evidence we have got out of that investigation.”

Kganyago says their investigations into the matter are still ongoing and more arrests are on the cards.

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