Kimberley - A warrant of arrest has been issued for the Northern Cape ANC provincial chairman, John Block, after he failed to appear in a Kimberley court on Thursday.
He was due in court for the R42 million fraud, corruption and money laundering case relating to the purchase of Wataka water purifiers for Provincial Health departments.
Dr Gaston Savoi, who represents Intaka Holdings, as well as his colleague, Fernando Praderi, and his personal assistant, Alicia Marcus, were also not present due to an apparent “misunderstanding” surrounding the need for them to appear in court.
The other accused, the former director of supply chain management for the Department of Health, Sanjay Mittah, former chief executive of the Kimberley Hospital, Deon Madyo, and Department of Health official, Daniel Gaborone, made a brief appearance in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
According to the State, no prior arrangements were made to exempt Block from his court appearance on Thursday.
The warrant of arrest will, however, be held over until his next court appearance on February 11 2016.
Warrants for the arrests of Savoi, Praderi and Marcus were also held over.
The warrant for the arrest of Madyo was cancelled, as he appeared in court on Thursday.
Defence lawyers, however. highlighted how the delays were prejudicing their clients.
The accused are expected to bring forward an application for the separation of charges.
National Prosecuting Authority Provincial spokeswoman, Mashudu Malabi, stated that the latest postponement of the trial was due to an application that was brought forward by the defence for a permanent stay of prosecution.
The applicants in the case are Savoi, Praderi and Marcus and the earliest that the matter can be heard in the KwaZulu Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg is March 5.
The state will therefore not be able to proceed with the Intaka case in the Northern Cape, until this matter is finalised.
It is also likely to delay the fraud and corruption trial involving the purchase of water purifiers, oxygen tanks and dialysis machines from the Intaka group of companies. The trial was set to resume in the Northern Cape High Court today.
The Constitutional Court, in March last year, dismissed an application brought by Savoi to challenge the racketeering charges, while the R144 million fraud, corruption and racketeering case pertaining to the Intaka purchases in the Durban High Court was postponed until February 8 2016.
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