Alleged underworld kingpin and controversial businessman Nafiz Modack has asked the Western Cape High Court to allow him to contact individuals outside prison to help pay his legal fees.
Modack returned to court on Friday, where he handed a letter to Judge Nathan Erasmus shortly after his lawyer, Schalk van der Merwe, revealed he had not yet obtained financial instructions ahead of his trials.
Modack appeared on two different matters, which have now been dubbed the “Tax Matter” and the “Kinnear Matter”.
Modack, his mother Ruwaida, and his brother Yaseen were arrested nearly three years ago, along with former South African Revenue Service (Sars) employee Faried van der Schyff, Bashier Syce, Layla Bedderson, Dominique McLachlan, and Kulsum van der Schyff, by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) for allegedly defrauding Sars out of R46 million.
The group appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, where they face over 700 charges, including racketeering, fraud, money laundering, forgery, uttering, and contraventions of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act.
The State is set to prove that the group had registered as VAT vendors and were e-filing claims for refunds that could not be determined, and that payments of R46 million were fraudulently received from Sars.
Modack was also charged with the murder of SAPS Anti-Gang Unit commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
Along with several other accused, he faces over 3,000 charges relating to various incidents including a grenade attack on Kinnear’s Bishop Lavis’ home, pinging the cellphones of high-ranking cops, as well as an attempted hit on attorney William Booth.
Modack’s letter to Erasmus also lists various issues he has at Helderstroom Prison, including dirty water.
But Erasmus only highlighted the issues faced by Modack in consulting with individuals for financial assistance, saying: “One of the issues raised in this letter, forget about the dirty water and stuff like that, is that Mr Modack indicates that he has requested Correctional Services to facilitate the consultation with individuals who can provide the funds for the trials and other applications.
“I am going to note on the warrant to the prison this request and indicate to them that they must do what is within their powers and under the circumstances to facilitate.
“I cannot rule on it because I don’t know the reasons for that.
“In the event that there is still a refusal for consultations, Correctional Services must provide those reasons to both the state and the defence, where they can request a hearing on the matter before a judge.”
Modack will return to court on November 9.