Trevor Neethling, one of the co-accused in the fraud case of South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan, has brought an application for the state prosecutor in the case to recuse himself.
This was revealed on Friday by National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Gauteng regional spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane.
On Friday, Jordaan (73), Neethling (46), Safa CFO Gronnie Hluyo (55), Neethling’s company Grit Communications, and former acting CEO of Safa Russell Patrick Paul (64) made an appearance at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
Jordaan, Neethling, Hluyo, Grit and Paul face charges of three counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Accused are out on bail
The charges stem from allegations of R1.3-million fraud of Safa’s financial resources between 2014 and 2018. Jordaan, Neethling and Hluyo are out on R20, 000 bail, while Paul is out on R10, 000 bail.
Mjonondwane said during court proceedings on Friday, Neethling indicated before magistrate Sharon Soko-Rantao that he will be bringing an application for state prosecutor Adv Moagi Malebati to recuse himself.
She said Neethling wants Malebati to recuse himself because “he has seen information that he believes is client-attorney privileged information”.
Soko-Rantao set December as the date the court will hear the recusal application.
Soko-Rantao also postponed the main case against the five accused. This was because of outstanding interlocutory applications brought by Jordaan and Hluyo that are still before the Johannesburg High Court.
Jordaan and Hluyo want the High Court to declare the March 2024 search and seizure operation conducted at Safa House in Nasrec, Johannesburg, by the Hawks as unlawful.
The pair also want their November 2024 arrest declared unlawful. They are also challenging Soko-Rantao’s December 2024 decision to dismiss their Section 342A application. They are citing unreasonable delay in their main case proceeding.
Main case postponed to February
The main case was postponed to February 11. This was to give enough time for the interlocutory High Court applications to be heard. And for them to be finalised.
Mjonondwane said the accused’s R1.3-million fraud allegations stem from a 12-month Service Level Agreement (SLA). It was allegedly entered by Safa, represented by Jordaan, and Grit Communications in December 2017. And it was for the provision of Public Relations and communication services to Safa.
Mjonondwane said the state alleges that Jordaan, in contravention of the Safa statutes, signed the SLA. It was neither sanctioned nor approved by Safa. And he and Neethling backdated the agreement to October 1 2017.
Irregular appointments of security, PR
“Jordaan is alleged to have employed Grit Communications for purposes of protecting his personal image following allegations of rape levelled against him in 2017. Furthermore, that he allegedly acquired protection services worth over R40,000, purported to be for Safa. The services were from Badger Security, during the Safa 2018 elective congress. These protection services were allegedly exclusively rendered to him.
“According to Safa statutes, Jordaan was precluded from doing so. Only the CFO and CEO of Safa were authorised to sign contractual agreements.
“The PR services were already rendered to Safa by its existing department that handled PR and communication. Despite full knowledge of the unauthorised and unlawful nature of the actions of both Jordaan and Neethling, it is alleged that Hluyo approved the payments to Grit Communications and Badger Security,” said Mjonondwane.
