A Standerton District Court prosecutor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for two counts of corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Aaron Pule Mohanwe (35) was found guilty of accepting bribes in exchange for not enrolling drug-related cases.
Mpumalanga NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said Mohanwe was arrested by undercover agents, who set a trap for him after receiving a tip off about his illegal activities.
Detailing how the operation was executed, Nyuswa said an undercover agent “was arrested” and placed in the court cells.
The other agents later approached Mohanwe to find out what he could do to help the “arrested person”.
She said Mohanwe asked for money from the undercover agents, who handed over some marked notes to him.
“This happened on two different occasions and the transactions were recorded by the agents. On another occasion, the accused requisitioned an awaiting trial prisoner for the purpose of a court appearance for bail at the district court, when in fact he had no bail hearing scheduled at that stage and that case had already been transferred to the regional court. No prior permission was requested or obtained from the senior public prosecutor to place the matter on the roll,” Nyuswa said.
“The accused never informed the investigating officers, whom he knew were vehemently opposed to the release of the accused on bail. Surprisingly, when he requisitioned the awaiting trial prisoner to appear in the district court, he informed the court that the investigating officers were not interested in opposing the bail application. He knew that the information about the purported bail application was not given to the investigators. The prosecutor was arrested, prosecuted, and eventually convicted on two counts of corruption and one count of defeating the administration of justice,” she said.
Nyuswa said Mohanwe was sentenced to 10 years’ direct imprisonment for corruption, 10 years for another count of corruption and seven years for a count of defeating the ends of justice. “The court ordered that the sentences for counts two and three run concurrently with the sentence on count 1. The effective sentence is 10 years direct imprisonment,” she said.
Nyuswa said Mohanwe has been dismissed from the NPA.
“This is one of those cases where the NPA will not hesitate to institute criminal action against one of its own when dealing with corruption and defeating the ends of justice. The NPA is resolute in reaffirming the rule of law, professionalism and accountability among all its employees, especially the prosecutors who are expected to stand for, and deliver justice,” she said.
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