The Pretoria High Court has dismissed the state’s application in the VBS Mutual Bank heist trial to reserve five questions of law for consideration by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Gauteng’s director of public prosecutions brought an application in November in terms of Section 319(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 as a request for reservation of questions of law for consideration by the SCA.
The state’s application was opposed by four of the 13 accused in the VBS Mutual Bank heist trial.
The application was opposed by former VBS CEO Andile Ramavhunga, former VBS treasurer Phophi Mukhodobwane, former VBS non-executive board member Ernest Nesane, and ANC bigwig Kabelo John Matsepe.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) request application stems from a judgment handed down in 2024 by the Pretoria High Court, wherein the court granted ANC bigwigs Danny Msiza and Matsepe relief to have a separate trial in the VBS matter involving 13 accused.
Advocate Hein van der Merwe, the state prosecutor, was supposed to lead arguments for an application for leave to appeal the separation of trial judgment and make submissions for the request application.
Van der Merwe abandoned the leave to appeal application and proceeded with only the request application.
Request application dismissed
Judge Peter Mabuse dismissed the request application in a judgment he handed down on Monday. The arguments in the request application matter were heard on November 11.
The state requested the court to reserve questions of law, such as but not limited to whether the court had exercised its discretion judicially or had been influenced by wrong principles of law or a misdirection on the facts, or whether its decision had been unreasonable in granting the separation of trials, or whether the court duly considered the prosecutorial prerogative as to how the accused should be charged as provided for in Section 179(2) of the constitution.
The state said the questions of law are compelling reasons why the appeal application should be heard before the trial resumes.
Mabuse said the NPA has not fully complied with the peremptory requirements of Section 319(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act.
“The questions of law framed by the applicant [NPA] do not have any practical effect on the outcome of the trial of the first and second respondents,” said Mabuse.
Stay of prosecution
In August, the Pretoria High Court denied the request for a stay of prosecution relief in the VBS Mutual Bank heist case made by Msiza and Matsepe.
However, the court granted them the relief to have a separate trial in the matter involving 13 accused.
Also in August, Msiza and Matsepe, who have been charged alongside the other 11 accused in the R2.3-billion VBS case, requested that their cases be separated from those of their 11 co-accused and that their prosecution be temporarily halted while the matter is resolved and permission to appeal to the SCA is applied for.
The only people found guilty and sentenced in connection with the case to date are former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi and former chief financial officer Phillip Truter.
In July, Matodzi was found guilty on 33 counts of corruption, theft, fraud, money-laundering, and racketeering in violation of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act related to the VBS Bank collapse scandal.
The Pretoria High Court sentenced Matodzi to 15 years in prison on each of these counts.
He accepted a plea deal from the state and pleaded guilty. The sentences will run concurrently for an effective 15-year jail term.
The court also declared Matodzi unfit to possess a firearm.
Truter released on parole
In June 2020, Matodzi was arrested along with a number of other VBS staff members, including Truter, Mukhodobwane, and former non-executive board members Nesane and Paul Magula.
Ramavhunga was also detained.
Also in 2020, Truter entered a guilty plea to six counts of fraud, corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering related to bank looting.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three years suspended for five years. He was the first person to be arrested in relation to the VBS looting scandal.
Truter was released on parole in July 2024.
Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content
