NATIONAL NEWS - The fraud and corruption trial involving former Crime Intelligence (CI) head, Richard Mdluli and former CI operatives Heine Barnard and Solomon Lazarus has been postponed to the 19 February for pre-trial conference.

The trio face charges related to allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund, including private luxury trips to China and Singapore, private use of witness protection houses and the leasing out of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond.

Mdluli could not attend proceedings on Monday due to ill health. The trio face charges of corruption, fraud, and theft while Heine face an additional charge of defeating the administration of justice.

Mdluli is currently serving a five-year sentence for his September 2020 conviction on kidnapping and assault charges which dated back to 1998. His leave to appeal was denied by the high court soon afterwards.

According to NPA spokesperson Sindisiwe Twala, Judge Bam ordered the three accused need not attend the pre-trial hearing which would be in open court. However, the accused had to be present during the following sitting to be held on 04 March 2021.

Source: Caxton publication, The Citizen

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