[ad_1]
File Photo: Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi testifies at the commission of inquiry into the state’s capture chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on January 23, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)
Around the same time that former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi detailed the explosive allegations of corruption in the State Capture investigation, he transferred R30 million to overseas accounts. Recently, it did not disclose those assets in court. Prosecutors now believe that he is at risk of flight and that his bail appeal should be denied.
Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, who is under surveillance while receiving treatment at a private Johannesburg hospital, is seriously ill and could be at risk of contracting and dying from Covid-19 due to his comorbidities if he returns to prison. from Johannesburg, the city of Johannesburg. Superior Court hearing on Monday.
Agrizzi asked the court to appeal the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court decision to to refuse your bail request on October 14.
He is accused of providing former ANC MP Vincent Smith 870,000 rand in cash and services, while Smith was chairman of Parliament’s prison services committee, to end concerns about Bosasa’s lucrative contracts.
Agrizzi was not in court on Monday.
Reading a letter from his doctor, advocate Mannie Witz said Agrizzi was “seriously ill in our intensive care unit” and was breathing through a ventilator and on dialysis. He is vulnerable to Covid-19 as he has diabetes and hypertension.
“If he goes back to jail with these comorbidities and his age, that’s the end of the appellant,” Witz said.
He said Agrizzi was chained to his hospital bed and that there were three armed guards in his room, another three outside the door and three more in the parking lot. He was admitted to hospital and suffered a heart attack after a brief stint in Johannesburg prison.
Prosecutor Arnold Rossouw said: “We do not want a sick man with comorbidities to die in prison.”
“The problem is that the appellant decided to deceive the court when he requested bail.”
Prosecutors believe Agrizzi deliberately misled the court by not initially disclosing his assets abroad and did not explain the omission, making him a flight risk.
Agrizzi had told the court that he and his wife owned real estate in South Africa worth R14 million and had R6 million in movable property.
Investigators found that Agrizzi and his wife Debbie had transferred approximately R24 million to overseas accounts between December 2018 and January 2019. Since February 2019, he invested R6.69 million in cryptocurrencies, which were then transferred to unknown recipients or locations. .
Agrizzi first testified in the State Capture investigation for nine days in January 2019.
He had an Italian passport, which he reportedly lost. The police are in possession of his South African passport, which has expired.
“Assets in Italy, in France, wherever, we don’t know where all their assets are,” Rossouw said.
Witz said that Agrizzi had finally disclosed his assets abroad to the court and promised to explain his investments to prosecutors. He said that all transfers to accounts abroad were in line with the laws of the Reserve Bank and SARS. He claimed that he had transferred assets on behalf of his wife due to poor health.
“You can’t blame someone for investing abroad,” Witz said.
Agrizzi has provided some of the most dramatic and explosive testimony in the State Capture investigation, detailing how Bosasa allegedly bribed a wide range of government officials and politicians to win lucrative bids and avoid an investigation.
Witz said he had cooperated with the investigation and other authorities. He said Agrizzi was not a flight risk since he had no relatives abroad.
He said Agrizzi is willing to hand over key documents, such as title deeds to his property abroad, to authorities to show that he has no plans to leave the country.
“He could have gone; I didn’t have to go to State Capture, I didn’t have to go anywhere, ”Witz said, explaining Agrizzi’s commitment to the legal process.
Bosasa and Agrizzi allegedly installed a security system at Smith’s home, worth R200,000 and made more than R671,000 in deposits to Smith’s company account, part of which Smith claims was a Agrizzi made a personal loan to Smith, so she could pay her daughter’s tuition at a university in Wales.
Witz claimed that the case against Agrizzi was flimsy.
He said Agrizzi did not profit from the payments to Smith and was a scapegoat for Bosasa, later named African Global Operations, which is in liquidation, and Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, who died in August 2019.
“There are no appellant payments,” said Witz, which prosecutors disputed.
The state argued that Agrizzi had presented new evidence on his appeal and should apply for bail again in Magistrates Court rather than Johannesburg High Court.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng said he would pronounce sentence on Friday. Agrizzi and Smith are expected to return to court on December 3. Smith pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court earlier this month. DM
