MPs appear in court over travel scam

By Ashley Smith & Chiara Carter

Twenty MPs appeared in the Cape Town magistrate's court on Friday to face charges of fraud in connection with the Travelgate scandal - and more will be charged within weeks.

The scandal has rocked the foundations of parliament.

Although the charge sheet contains the names of 20 African National Congress MPs or former MPs, the case was called under the name "Craig Morkel and 22 others".

In court on Friday, Scorpions prosecutor Jannie van Vuuren confirmed that more summonses would be issued and more MPs would appear in court soon.

After the hearing, Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said a further six MPs were making representations and might face charges.

There was no final tally. A statement issued by the prosecutions authority two weeks ago that 40 MPs would face prosecution had been "premature" and "we regret it", Nkosi said.

The MPs who appeared today have been accused of defrauding parliament by abusing their travel vouchers.

The allegations include one that that they used their travel vouchers for luxury car hire and hotel stays - perks which the vouchers are not allowed to be used for.

On Friday at court, only 20 of 23 MPs appeared.

Excuses were made on behalf of the three absent politicians by their legal representative, Seth Nthai.

Van Vuuren said lengthy interviews with MPs had led to further investigations.

The MPs' case would run in conjunction with the cases against seven travel agents who are accused of defrauding parliament of nearly R16-million.

He also confirmed that prior to their court appearance, the MPs' defence lawyers had had talks with the Scorpions.

He asked the court to postpone the case until June 8, because circumstances warranted such a long postponement. The postponement had been agreed to by the defence teams, he said.

He listed several outstanding matters including extensive forensic investigations and plea bargains being negotiated.

"We will have to finalise all these issues before the next (appearance) date," he said.

Earlier, as the nattily dressed MPs filed into court, some greeted the large media contingent with smiles and handshakes.

Their appearance in court follows an announcement last month by the Scorpions that 40 former and sitting MPs would be appearing in connection with the fraud.

And it comes nine months after seven travel agents were brought to court for allegedly defrauding parliament of nearly R16-million.

Every year, MPs receive travel voucher booklets which may only be used for flights, but the scam allowed them to live the high life with taxpayers' money, paying for the hiring of luxury cars and hotel stays.

In turn, the accused travel agencies allegedly created fake air tickets or copied travel vouchers to claim for illegal travel by the MPs.

Last June seven travel agents were arrested and freed on bail.

Subsequently, one of the travel agents - Soraya Beukes of Business and Executive Travel - had her bail withdrawn because the court found her to be a flight risk.

The other travel agents who are on trial are Graham Geduldt and Nazley Lackey of Star Travel Bureau, Estelle Agujarro and Mustafa Solomons of ITC Travel and Shamiema Limala and Mpho Lebelo of Bathong Travel.

Friday's court appearance by MPs ends weeks of speculation about when they would be formally charged.

Meanwhile, at a brief meeting of the parliamentary joint rules committee on Friday, a special committee was set up to look into a report into the Scorpions investigation and its recommendations.

The committee will be expected to report back by March 15.