Durban - The National Prosecuting Authority has brushed off allegations that top KwaZulu-Natal prosecutor Moipone Noko dumped files in a multi-million rand tax fraud trial.
“The national director... has not received any formal complaint regarding advocate Noko,” NPA spokesman Nathi Mncube told Sapa on Monday.
“Secondly, there is no internal investigation against her pertaining to such allegations.”
Mncube was responding to a report in City Press on Sunday that Noko had been caught on camera allegedly dumping files from Shawn Mpisane’s tax fraud trial.
According to the newspaper, five lever arch files and one Manila folder, containing documentation including confidential correspondence between the NPA, the SA Revenue Service and Mpisane’s legal team, were dumped in a secluded section of the judges’ parking lot of the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
The documents were reportedly left in the lot on January 28 and found by staff the next day.
The paper reported that Noko was being investigated by National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Mxolisi Nxasana.
The newspaper said it had seen the files and taken photographs of them.
Mncube denied that Nxasana was investigating the allegations against Noko.
Mpisane had 119 fraud charges she was facing dropped by the Durban Regional Court last month.
The Durban businesswoman and her company, Zikhulise Cleaning Maintenance and Transport CC, had been accused of inflating suppliers' invoices by R4.7 million in an attempt to cut the tax bill. She was also accused of violating the Close Corporations Act by remaining Zikhulise's sole member when she had a previous fraud conviction.
She was acquitted of the charges after Nxasana made the decision to stop prosecution in terms of Section 6(b) of the Criminal Procedures Act.
The Democratic Alliance on Monday called on Nxasana to suspend Noko.
“In the light of this serious allegation, advocate Noko should be suspended immediately by the NDPP, Mxolisi Nxasana,” DA MP Debbie Schafer said in a statement.
“We raised concerns on several occasions that Noko was put in that position for reasons other than her prosecutorial ability.”
Schafer said letting Noko continue in her position was undermining the credibility of the justice system in KwaZulu-Natal.
The DA would submit Parliamentary questions to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe regarding an internal investigation into Noko.
Sapa