Durban - Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane will have to wait until next year to see if the trial, in which she is accused of inflating invoices to cut her tax bill, will go ahead.
The Durban Regional Court granted the State a postponement on Tuesday to allow newly appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana time to consider representations made by Mpisane.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Nathi Mncube said the matter was postponed to January 31.
Mpisane is accused of inflating the invoices of her close corporation, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance, and Transport, by R4.7 million in an attempt to cut her tax bill.
She is also accused of violating the Close Corporations Act by remaining Zikhulise's sole member when she had a previous fraud conviction.
In July, Rafik Bhana SC, for Mpisane, accused the State of suppressing evidence and questioned prosecutor Meera Naidu's conduct.
Bhana was granted permission and a postponement to make representations to the then acting NDPP Nomgcobo Jiba.
However, the State applied on Tuesday for a further postponement to allow Nxasana time to review the representations. Nxasana took up his post at the beginning of October.
Naidu has been dropped from the case, and from another case in the Pinetown Regional Court in which Mpisane is accused of interfering with a witness.
In September, NPA spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said Naidu had been issued with a notice of intention to suspend her, and that she had been given an opportunity to explain why she should not be suspended.
Mncube said he could not comment on the NPA's internal matters, except to say that Naidu had not been suspended.
On January 21, Mpisane is also set to stand trial in the Durban Commercial Crime Court, where she is accused of submitting forged documents to obtain construction industry development board gradings which were then used to win five public works department tenders worth R140 million.
Mpisane, who is out on R100 000 bail, faces 53 charges of fraud, forgery, and uttering of a forged document in that matter.
Sapa