Joburg strip club linked to Cape extortion racket

Freedom seemed tantalisingly close on Wednesday for the five men accused of running Cape Town’s biggest extortion racket - then it was snatched away.

The men's lawyers hammered the state for the absence of the investigating officer from court for a second time.

Colonel Charl Kinnear was expected to be cross-examined by a crack bench of lawyers who are fighting to get Nafiz Modack‚ Colin Booysen‚ Ashley Fields‚ Jacques Cronje and Carl Lakay out on bail since their arrest more than a month ago.

State prosecutor Esna Erasmus told Cape Town Magistrate’s Court that Kinnear experienced chest pains on his way to court on Wednesday and was taken to hospital to be examined.

Senior advocate Dirk Uys‚ representing Modack‚ demanded his client’s release so that he could “conduct his affairs”.

“What we are dealing with is a man’s liberty‚ his ability to earn a living‚ his most fundamental of human rights‚” said Uys. It appeared that when there was “difficulty in the state’s case someone falls ill”.

Ben Mathewson‚ representing Fields — the man who Kinnear claims arranged the fatal stabbing of a bouncer at Beerhouse in Long Street in 2015 and the murder of a manager at Hotel 303 in Sea Point — told the court Kinnear was using delaying tactics to keep the men behind bars.

“We all have a suspicion why he wants to keep the accused in jail‚” said Mathewson‚ alluding to an apparent conspiracy against his client.

Uys also said that there was a conspiracy to kill Modack in Tokai’s Pollsmoor prison‚ where he is being held.

Modack’s advocate‚ Edwin Grobler‚ told the court on Tuesday that alleged Cape Town mobster Mark Lifman had put out a R20-million hit on Modack.

Kinnear testified that violence in Cape Town over the past two years‚ which has resulted in several murders including that of an innocent bystander during a shooting at Cubana in Stellenbosch last year‚ is the result of Modack’s grouping pushing out an established security racket run by Lifman‚ Jerome “Donkie” Booysen‚ and André Naudé.

It is understood the turf war has already claimed the lives of “steroid king” Brian Wainstein and Cape Town lawyer Noorudien Hassan‚ as well as three attempts on Jerome Booysen’s life in 2017‚ including an incident in which he was shot four times at Cape Town International Airport.

Magistrate Joe Magele rubbished Uys’s allegation that Kinnear was orchestrating a postponement due to “difficulties he had with the case”‚ and referred to Kinnear’s statement in court that he had diabetes.

Magele allowed a postponement based on the claim of illness. He said although the bail proceedings were urgent it could place “great prejudice” on the administration of justice and “could bring the South African legal system into disrepute” if he refused the state’s request for a postponement.

Erasmus told the court a Gauteng detective was on his way to Cape Town with a statement implicating Modack in extortion activities at The Grand in Rivonia‚ which markets itself as “Johannesburg's premium strip club”. It is understood that Modack will be arrested on Thursday on the new charges.

Kinnear has testified that Modack was in partnership with convicted Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir‚ claiming he was in possession of a recording of Krejcir asking Modack to do a R12-million debt collection from late strip club owner Lolly Jackson’s wife and that the money would be shared “50/50”.

He also testified that Modack told Major-General Jeremy Vearey‚ in a clandestinely recorded conversation‚ that he had influence over senior Western Cape police officers who were instated by disgraced former police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane.

He was also pictured with Jacob Zuma’s son‚ Duduzane‚ and Kinnear said he claimed to have political clout. The case continues on Friday.