The NPA says the plea deal will allow the former Bosasa COO to assist the State in other corruption matters involving Bosasa.

Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi, on Thursday, 6 November, walked away from a 40-year term of imprisonment after entering a plea deal with the State.

Agrizzi, who appeared virtually before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, pleaded guilty to three counts of corruption and one of money laundering.

Agrizzi was accused alongside former Department of Correctional Services (DCS) commissioner Linda Mti, former Correctional Services chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham, and former Bosasa chief financial officer Andries van Tonder of fraud and corruption to the tune of R1.8-billion.

The matter involves tenders awarded by the DCS to Bosasa and its subsidiaries in August 2004 and 2007.

In papers before the court, Agrizzi detailed his involvement in several transactions, including giving Mti gratifications in the form of flights, accommodation and travel, which he said he did "wrongfully and unlawfully" on the instruction of Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson, who died in 2019.

His conduct, he said, amounted to "the abuse of position of authority, a breach of trust or violation of legal duty of a...