Johnathan Paoli
Suspended Pretoria Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair is expected to return to court on Tuesday, following allegations of corruption where it was previously alleged that the magistrate had received kickbacks in the form of home security upgrades from Sondolo IT, one of Bosasa’s subsidiaries implicated in the State Capture Commission.
Nair was charged with corruption after allegedly accepting the installation of security systems from Bosasa, valued at R200 000, at his Pretoria home, including a full electric fence, CCTV and alarm systems.
Despite denying any wrongdoing and moving for the case to be dropped, Nair was implicated by various witnesses at the inquiry.
In an affidavit he deposed as well as in oral evidence he presented before the commission, Nair denied any involvement in corruption or State capture and insisted he arranged the upgrades to his home privately.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo – who was the Deputy Chief Justice at the time of the commission – in his ensuing report, however, found that there was “a reasonable prospect that further investigation will uncover a prima facie case”, and referred the matter to the country’s law enforcement, which, in turn, moved to charge Nair in 2022.
Nair’s name appeared in the third volume of Judge Zondo’s report on State Capture, which lists more than 60 individuals recommended for prosecution by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Explaining the charges against Nair, Investigating Directorate National Spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said that the chief magistrate had been suspended following a briefing by the Magistrates Commission to the National Council of Provinces in March 2020.
“In the charge sheet, we allege that he was granted the upgrades for his influence to act in a dishonest or improper manner,” Seboka said.
The chief magistrate has since made representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions to have the case quashed, and the outcome is expected to be revealed on Tuesday.
Nair briefly appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court in 2022, with the magistrate, Ignatius du Preez, explaining that he had needed clarity from the legal teams about the proceedings, because he had worked with Nair for a considerable amount of time and wanted to avoid any sort of scenario in which he could be conflicted.
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