The high court in Pretoria has issued a warrant of arrest for former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli for failure to appear in court for his fraud case on Thursday afternoon.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority's investigative directorate, judge Bert Bam ruled that Mdluli had been ordered to appear, and a request letter had been sent to the correctional services department to bring him to court from prison, where he is serving a sentence in a separate matter.
Bam stated that there was no reason Mdluli could not appear before court on Thursday.
His co-accused, Heine Barnard and Solomon Lazarus, appeared on charges of corruption, fraud and theft, the investigative directorate's Sindisiwe Twala said in a statement.
Heine faces an additional charge of defeating the ends of justice.
Mdluli has been behind bars since September 2020 after he and former colleague Mthembeni Mthunzi were handed five-year sentences their involvement in the kidnapping of Mdluli's customary wife, Tshidi Buthelezi, and her boyfriend, Oupa Ramogibe, in 1998.
In previous court appearances since his conviction, Mdluli has been unable to attend because of ill health.
The matter was postponed on Thursday until next Friday for the setting of a trial date.
The charges Mdluli and his co-accused face are related to the allegation of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund. They include payment of private trips to China and Singapore, private use of witness protection houses, the conversion of this property for personal use and the leasing out of Mdluli’s private residence to the state to pay his bond, among others.
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