The Travelgate trial will in all likelihood not start tomorrow. Some criminal law experts say the great miracle is that it is going ahead at all.
As a trial it is a nightmare to organise with 28 accused. Some are travel agents, the rest are current and former MPs. All who go on trial have so far refused offers to plea bargain.
Some may still try to do so. Trials of the MPs and travel agents may be separated which must be done first before the criminal trial begins. The charges are fraud or theft. The total amount allegedly involved is R25-million.
Originally 31 accused to go on trial but one died and another, Shamima Lamalia, plea bargained and turned state witness. Former DA MP Charles Redcliffe, appeared in the Cape Town High court on Friday and pleaded guilty to fraud.
He was given a R70 000 fine or five years in jail, with five years suspended for five years. Redcliffe used travel vouchers to pay for a three-day cruise to celebrate his 30th anniversary and paid for his son's honeymoon in the Kruger Park.
The remaining 28 are:
Soraya Beukes - Owner of Business and Executive Travel formerly employed at Connex Travel with Mpho Lebelo.
Mnyamezeli Booi: ANC MP from Cape Town.
Sophia Maine - ANC MP from Schweizer-Reneke.
Bathabile Dlamini - Former ANC MP from Pietermaritzburg who serves as secretary-general of the ANC Women's League.
Jabu Sobiso - From Durban is an ANC MP and a whip for the party in the National Assembly.
Patrick Maloyi - ANC MP from Belhar in Cape Town.
Barbara Thompson - From Ixopo in KwaZulu Natal, first served on the National Council of Provinces and then served in the National Assembly.
Randy Pieterse - ANC MP for Ravensmead in Cape Town.
Douglas Maimane - Former ANC MP from North West Province.
Bangilizwe Solo - He is an ANC MP from Benoni.
Mpho Lebelo - The owner of Bathong Travel.
Garth Mngomezulu - ANC MP from Mpumalanga.
Elizabeth Ngaleka - ANC MP from the Northern Cape.
Tsietsi Louw - ANC MP from Danielskuil, Northern Cape.
Alice Sigcawu - Former ANC MP from Tabankulu in the Eastern Cape.
Lewele Modisenyane - Serving ANC MP from Kroonstad in the Free State and former chairperson of the portfolio committee on correctional services.
Angie Molebatsi - A former ANC MP.
Graham Geduld - Owner of Star Travel.
Nazley Lackey - Consultant at Star Travel.
Dleleni Duma - ANC MP from Potchefstroom in the Northwest Province.
Antoinette Versveld - Former DA MP.
Maxwell Moss: ANC MP for the Westcoast
Bruce Kannemeyer - Former ANC MP and former city manager for Stellenbosch.
Estelle Aggujaro - Owner of ITC Travel.
Craig Morkel - Former DA MP now member of Progressive Independent Movement.
Beauty Dlulane - She is from Umtata in the Eastern Cape and an ANC member of the National Council of Provinces.
Robert Nogumla - Former ANC MP from the Eastern Cape.
Daniel Olifant - ANC MP for Atlantis.
The sentence the accused are facing, in the absence of substantial and compelling circumstances, is 15 years' imprisonment if the state manages to prove certain types of involvement and amounts for each of the accused.
Not all the accused have sorted out their legal aid. But at this stage advocate Seth Nthai is on record as counsel for the ANC MPs. Cape Town attorney Reuben Liddell is appearing for travel agent Soraya Beukes.
The prosecution is led by advocate Jannie van Vuuren who has also prosecuted in a number of high-profile cases including the prosecution of Abe Williams, the tax-evasion case of crime boss Colin Stanfield and the criminal case arising from the death of gang boss Rashaad Staggie.
It's the state's case that the travel agents and the MPs committed the alleged fraud by:
- Issuing air tickets to cover for additional expenses;
- Issuing tickets and then cancelling them on the same day but still claiming it from parliament;
- Fraudulently adding or altering destination routes to inflate ticket fares which were claimed from parliament;
- Copying or altering vouchers;
- Issuing tickets to non-MP travellers and claiming from parliament;
- Adding and altered tickets to inflate prices;
- Manually changing and copying tickets submitted and submitting fictitious invoices prepared to cover these changes;
- Claiming twice for the same tickets by using different invoice numbers;
- Fraudulent dating of invoices;
- Allowing MPs incorrectly to fly business class and claiming the business class fare from parliament; and
- Redeeming travel vouchers for cash.
To prove this scheme the prosecution is expected to take the court through the lengthy exercise of scrutinising each suspicious travel voucher and what happened to it.
The MPs and travel agents have not filed pleas, but it is expected that they would plead not guilty.