Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said he would not meet the Tuesday 5pm deadline to make representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams to review his fraud charges‚ his lawyer Gideon Malatji said on Tuesday. His lawyers instead advised Abrahams to withdraw the charges. On Monday‚ Abrahams said Gordhan’s co-accused Oupa Magashula and Ivan Pillay‚ through their legal representations‚ had made representations to him in which they requested him to review the decision taken by the Acting Special Director of Public Prosecutions Torie Pretorius to charge them. Abrahams said he was currently considering the representations and extended the invitation to Gordhan to make representations by no later than 5pm on Tuesday. Speaking to Radio 702 on Tuesday afternoon‚ Gordhan’s attorney Tebogo Malatji‚ of Gildenhuys Malatji Attorneys‚ said his client remained unconvinced that representations will result in Abrahams arriving at a different conclusion. Malatji said Gordhan had asked to make representations before a decision on whether to prosecute was taken. “We contend participating in process you do not have confidence in is problematic. If this was a genuine offer‚ it should have come before the decision and before the press conference‚” Malatji said. Last week‚ Gordhan’s lawyers said he had decided not to make representations to Abrahams. They said the main reason was that Gordhan did not have any confidence in Abrahams’s ability or willingness to afford him a fair hearing. They also said they asked the National Prosecuting Authority to afford Gordhan an opportunity to make representations to them before they decided whether to prosecute the minister. “Second‚ the NDPP’s conduct at his press conference announcing the decision to charge the Minister made clear his commitment to the prosecution. Third‚ having now had an opportunity to study the charges against the Minister‚ it is also clear to us that they manifest a resolute and not well-founded determination to prosecute the Minister at all costs. Any representations to the NDPP would accordingly be pointless.” - TMG Digital..