Bloemfontein - Assets of Northern Cape ANC leader John Block worth more than R20 million were frozen by a high court order on Friday, the National Prosecuting Authority said.
The Northern Cape High Court provisionally granted the order, freezing the guest house and shares, which the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) applied for, said Northern Cape NPA spokeswoman Mashudu Malabi.
The Upington guest house was worth about R500 000.
“The AFU is seeking to recover the value of improvements made to the guest house to the value of R380 000,” said Malabi.
The order also froze 10 ordinary shares worth about R20m in companies in the Trifecta Investment Holdings group belonging to Block.
Malabi said the high court would decide later whether the provisional order should be confirmed.
The assets were frozen on the basis of evidence presented to court in the NPA's investigation into alleged corrupt payments by companies in the Trifecta group to Block and others.
Trifecta allegedly entered into a number of lease agreements with the Northern Cape social development department in which the rentals, or rental space, were grossly inflated.
As a result Trifecta received, or would receive, at the end of the lease agreements, rentals of R57m.
The order forms part of a series of freezing orders obtained by the AFU so far in the Trifecta matter against a number of Northern Cape politicians and department officials.
The other accused in the case are the director of Trifecta, Alfeus Scholtz, and Northern Cape African National Congress heavyweights Alvin Botes and Yolanda Botha.
Social development officials Rodney Saal and Cecil Ryland were also arrested in connection with the case and were out on bail. - Sapa