Isaiah Morewagae
13 October 2009
The former Managing Director of Debswana Louis Nchindo, his son Garvas and former senior members of Debswana Management Joe Matome and Jacob Sesinyi will today enter a plea in respect of the 36 counts of corruption and other charges that hang over their heads.
The High Court applications that were brought by Nchindo's legal team were decided a few weeks ago. However, during their court appearance yesterday, Nchindo's defence team, led by Craig Webster made a few demands that Moroka will decide on today.
Webster submitted that the state has failed to carry out an order made by Moroka in respect to count 8 and 9. "The state has failed to amend counts 8 and 9, thus the counts still remain objectionable," he said.
Webster further submitted that counts 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 should be dismissed and scrapped off the charge sheet because they fail to create an offence.
He said his clients are entitled to a fair trial, hence the defence will do what is necessary to ensure that their clients' constitutional rights are not contravened.
On the other hand, the state prosecutor senior counsel Matlhogonolo Phuthego, told the court that they saw no need to carry out the amendment in respect of count 8 and 9 because Nchindo's legal team had approached the High Court for a review of Moroka's ruling.
He added that the High Court ruling by Justice Maruping Dibotelo found that all charges were drafted in accordance with the law. Phuthego also accused the defence of applying delaying tactics in that every time the court resumes, the accused come up with another application.
"This is a ploy to delay the commencement of trial," Phuthego charged.
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