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The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) re-enrolled the R24.9m Nulane fraud and corruption case in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday.This follows the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last year which upheld an appeal by the state against the judgment of the Free State High Court in 2023 that discharged the six individual accused and two accused.The SCA also ordered that the accused may be retried for the same offences as if they had not been previously arraigned.Former Free State agriculture department head Limakatso Moorosi, who did not apply for a discharge, was acquitted by the high court in 2023 while her co-accused were discharged.The other accused are: alleged Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma;former head of the Free State department of rural development Peter Thabethe;former provincial agriculture department CFO Seipati Dhlamini;Sharma’s brother in law and a representative of Nulane Dinesh Patel;Islandsite director Ronica Ragavan; and the entities Nulane Investment and Islandsite.Idac spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the accused’s bid to have the Constitutional Court overturn the SCA’s ruling was also dismissed before the state summoned the accused to court for the matter to be reinstated.“The matter was postponed to September 22 for the disclosure of the docket,” he said.All the accused were in court.TimesLIVE
