Former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli told the Pretoria high court on Tuesday he will source the services of a private lawyer to represent him in his corruption trial with two co-accused.
The court postponed the case against Mdluli and former SAPS supply chain manager Heine Barnard and CFO Solomon Lazarus until April 14 next year for trial.
“This follows the dismissal of his appeal to Legal Aid South Africa, after they rejected his application for legal aid,” said the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption's spokesperson Henry Mamothame.
Mdluli, Barnard and Lazarus face corruption, fraud and theft charges relating to the police’s secret slush fund from the time they were employed by the police in the crime intelligence services between 2008 and 2012.
The charges relate to allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund, from which Mdluli and his family are said to have benefited. They include:
- payment for private trips to China and Singapore;
- private use of a witness protection house in Boksburg and conversion of this property for his personal use;
- the leasing of Mdluli’s private town house at Gordon Villas in Gordons Bay as a safe house to the state; and
- using the monthly rental to pay his bond.
Other allegations are that Mdluli’s family members, without adequate qualifications or experience, were appointed in crime intelligence and provided with motor vehicles and cellphones.
TimesLIVE
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