Ruling postponed in Mpisane case

Durban - A ruling in an application by the State to make changes to businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane's fraud and corruption case was postponed by the Durban Regional Court on Thursday.

“I may have (under)estimated the amount of work involved in this matter and I will only be able to hand down my ruling on Friday,” magistrate Blessing Msane said.

Mpisane's fraud trial was supposed to have started last Monday, but the State had applied for the charges she was facing in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court to be transferred to the Durban Regional Court, where she faced other charges, so they could be heard together.

State prosecutor Meera Naidu said the cases involved the same witnesses and evidence. The State had also applied to have the charge sheet amended, to add 12 more charges to the 119 Mpisane initially faced.

Her advocate Jimmy Howse told the court amending the charge sheet was unreasonable and would delay the trial.

He said the matter in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court should be dealt with in future, when investigations had been completed and the case was ready for trial. The further charges could also be dealt with separately, Howse said.

Mabongi Flora-Junior “Shauwn” Mpisane is accused of inflating invoices by more than R5 million to cut her tax bill. She is also accused of violating the Close Corporations Act by remaining the sole member of Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport CC when she had a previous fraud conviction. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On October 19, she was arrested on fresh charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice for allegedly contacting one of the witnesses expected to testify in her fraud trial. She appeared in the Pinetown court and was released on R50 000 bail. - Sapa