Judgment postponed in Conradie acquittal application
An application for acquittal by well-known lawyer Dirk Conradie (64) and his co-accused Sara Damases (59) was postponed yesterday until 17 September.
The application was made after the State closed its case in the corruption trial. In the application, brought under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Conradie - the former chairperson of telecommunications giant MTC - argued that the State failed to present enough evidence in court for them to be found guilty. Therefore, according to him, they are entitled to be found innocent without having to testify.
The judgment regarding the section 174 application was scheduled to be delivered yesterday by Judge Thomas Masuku, but was postponed.
The case against Conradie and Damases was brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2012 and relates to charges of corruption, conspiracy to commit corruption, and in Conradie's case, abuse of his position of power.
The State alleged that Conradie abused his position as chairperson to ensure that an advertising tender was awarded to a certain company, in exchange for Damases being appointed as the company's black economic empowerment partner.
Background
Conradie allegedly tried to convince the owners of the advertising company DV8 Saachi & Saachi, Mark Bongers and Kim Field, to appoint Damases. DV8 tendered for a N$60 million MTC advertising account and, according to Bongers’ testimony, Conradie said during a meeting in June 2012 that he, as a key decision-maker, would sway the voting process so that they would get the contract.
Bongers was allegedly not in favour of this and brought the developments to the attention of the ACC.
Conradie and Damases pleaded innocent in March 2016 and were released on bail of N$30 000 each.
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The application was made after the State closed its case in the corruption trial. In the application, brought under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Conradie - the former chairperson of telecommunications giant MTC - argued that the State failed to present enough evidence in court for them to be found guilty. Therefore, according to him, they are entitled to be found innocent without having to testify.
The judgment regarding the section 174 application was scheduled to be delivered yesterday by Judge Thomas Masuku, but was postponed.
The case against Conradie and Damases was brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2012 and relates to charges of corruption, conspiracy to commit corruption, and in Conradie's case, abuse of his position of power.
The State alleged that Conradie abused his position as chairperson to ensure that an advertising tender was awarded to a certain company, in exchange for Damases being appointed as the company's black economic empowerment partner.
Background
Conradie allegedly tried to convince the owners of the advertising company DV8 Saachi & Saachi, Mark Bongers and Kim Field, to appoint Damases. DV8 tendered for a N$60 million MTC advertising account and, according to Bongers’ testimony, Conradie said during a meeting in June 2012 that he, as a key decision-maker, would sway the voting process so that they would get the contract.
Bongers was allegedly not in favour of this and brought the developments to the attention of the ACC.
Conradie and Damases pleaded innocent in March 2016 and were released on bail of N$30 000 each.
– [email protected]
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