The fraud and corruption case of over R800,000 against former Bosasa chief operating officer (COO) Angelo Agrizzi on Thursday was postponed once again, on health grounds.
Agrizzi was expected to appear at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, but he was absent. His lawyer handed over a medical certificate to the court stating that Agrizzi was too ill to attend court proceedings.
The court was expected on Thursday to hear whether the state had acquired the services of an independent pulmonologist to examine Agrizzi’s medical condition.
This follows his failure to appear in court for nine months, since October 2020, citing ill health. The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) said the case would resume again on March 2,2022.
The state, however, will be allowed to go through Agrizzi’s medical records and appoint a pulmonologist to ascertain whether he is indeed unable to attend his trial.
Agrizzi’s lawyer also requested that he report to a different police station as part of his bail conditions after he relocated to a different area in Johannesburg.
The ID’s spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said “he will be reporting to the Douglasdale police station from 10 December. He is expected to report every Friday.”
In November, the court had issued a warrant of arrest for Agrizzi, but it was stayed until the next appearance on January 21, 2022, in a separate case related to Bosasa’s R1.8 billion fraud and corruption trial.
Agrizzi is accused of paying bribes on behalf of Bosasa to former ANC parliamentarian Vincent Smith in exchange for his influence, as he was the then-chairperson of Parliament’s oversight committee on Correctional Services.
Bosasa won contracts worth over R1billion from Correctional Services between 2004 and 2007. The state was previously granted its application for a separation of trial because of Agrizzi’s ill health.
Smith also faces charges of tax fraud, money laundering, corruption and alleged breach of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act for payments made to his company Euroblitz in 2015 and 2016.