Nafiz Modack was still struggling to get money to confirm that he can pay his lawyer until the end of each trial.
- The VAT fraud and murder cases of Nafiz Modack and his co-accused are expected to start at the beginning of 2024.
- The judge presiding over the pre-trial proceedings in the cases told the prosecutors to decide which trial will start first.
- Modack also needs to confirm that he can pay his lawyer until the end of each trial.
Nafiz Modack and his co-accused are expected to be tried at the beginning of 2024 in two cases – one for VAT fraud and another for murder – but prosecutors will have to slug out to decide which case is heard first.
Judge Nathan Erasmus said the prosecutors must discuss the matter urgently to avoid a situation where the court orders than one of the cases be removed from the roll for the time being.
“If the prosecution in the two matters can’t agree on who does first, I will have to make that order. And I will make that order. Get it done quickly,” said Erasmus.
In the hybrid pre-trial sitting in the Western Cape High Court on Friday, Erasmus was told that Modack was still struggling to get money to confirm that he can pay his lawyer until the end of each trial.
Modack was not on the remote feed from Helderstroom Prison for the VAT fraud case but was online for the murder case.
The accused in the VAT fraud case are Modack, tax practitioner Faried van der Schyff, Modack’s mother Ruwaida Modack, his brother Yaseen Modack, Bashier Syce, Nadia Sait, Dominique McLachlan, Kulsum van der Schyff and Layla Bedderson. Not all of the accused were in court physically.
Some appeared virtually. One was in the hospital for a procedure, and it was agreed that the parties would not force a feed by cellphone from a hospital bed.
They are accused of pulling off a R46-million VAT fraud scheme involving allegedly fake VAT refund claims in a cottage industry.
READ | Modack still not ready for VAT trial as lawyer ‘hanging in the air’ over payment guarantee
According to the indictment, collectively, they face 711 charges relating to allegations that the SA Revenue Service paid out R46 651 794 in tax refunds which were not due to the companies.
Regarding the huge murder and racketeering trial sparked by the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear, Erasmus set a to-do list for all of the accused’s lawyers so that they can be ready for trial.
In that case, Modack still needs to get the money for a lawyer, as does his co-accused Ricardo Morgan.
Erasmus is looking at the first term of 2024 for the trial to start.
To get things going smoothly and not waste time, he told them to get their possible pleas and admissions done by then.
Both matters were postponed to 13 October.
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