Cape Town – The matter of suspended Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer and his five co-accused was on Friday postponed until end October.
Lamoer and the five co-accused appeared briefly in the Western Cape High Court for a pre-trial conference, a formality prior to the actual trial. An initial trial date had been set for October 5.
The accused had last appeared in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court in June. The case was then transferred to the High Court.
Joining Lamoer in the dock were three police officials – brigadiers Darius van der Ross, Kolindren Govender, and Logambal “Sharon” Govender – as well as Cape Town businessman Mohamed Saleem Dawjee and his son Mohamed Zameer Dawjee.
The accused are facing a total of 109 charges related to corruption, racketeering, and money laundering, involving roughly R1.6 million.
Judge Robert Henney presided over the pre-trial hearing, while State prosecutor Billy Downer said he was ready to proceed and would probably call about 30 witnesses. However, defence for the accused cited funding-related issues around legal representation.
Advocate William Booth, who represented the Dawjees on behalf of companies Towbars Cape and Towbars King, said he had not yet received proper financial instructions, to which Henney said he needed to sort that out.
The state funding for the police officials, the Govenders and Van Der Ross had, according to attorney for the accused, been “irrationally” denied by national police commissioner Riah Phiyega.
It was argued that Phiyega should reconsider the decision for state financial support, but it was acknowledged in court that it was unlikely that she would be the one to decide on this matter as Phiyega herself could soon be suspended due to an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
Services by the State attorney had also been withdrawn from Lamoer, who had since employed the services of private representation.
The matter was postponed until October 23.
ANA