Cape Town - Former Bosasa executive and corruption accused Angelo Agrizzi was moved from a public to a private hospital on Monday, the Department of Correctional Services confirmed.
"His family made a request that he be moved to a private hospital," departmental spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said.
"They have that choice but they must pay for it," he added.
Correctional services could not comment on the severity of Agrizzi's condition.
He was remanded in custody last week and was denied bail in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after the Investigating Directorate (ID) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) argued that he posed a patent flight risk.
Prosecutors said Agrizzi had lied in an earlier bail affidavit about both his financial situation and the fact that he still held an Italian passport.
It emerged in court he had recently transferred millions of rand offshore and bought real estate in the Tuscan hillside town of Castel del Piano.
Agrizzi had appeared in court hooked to a mobile oxygen tank and was hospitalised the day after his appearance.
He faces charges of corruption relating to alleged bribes paid to former senior MP Vincent Smith to bring the lawmaker, who chaired Parliament's portfolio committee on correctional services, to drop his hostility to Bosasa.
The company held contracts worth more than R1 billion (about US$61 million) with the Department of Correctional Services.
Agrizzi, the former chief operations officer of the company, delivered sensational testimony before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture on how it allegedly used patronage to milk the state for money.
ANA