Suspended magistrate Desmond Nair's application for withdrawal of charges fails

The application to have the corruption charges against suspended chief magistrate Desmond Nair withdrawn was denied by the Pretoria specialised commercial crime court on Tuesday.

Nair was expecting to hear his fate on Tuesday after his legal team applied for a withdrawal in July last year.

His lawyer, Danie Dorfling, told TimesLIVE they felt the case had insufficient evidence for a criminal trial.

“We attacked the credibility of the state witness in the disciplinary hearing he attended and said they wouldn’t be able to put together a proper case in a criminal trial,” Dorfling said.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said the matter has been postponed to March 15 for Nair’s legal team to consider appealing the decision to the national director of public prosecutions.

Nair is facing corruption charges for allegedly receiving kickbacks valued at R200,000 in security upgrades to his property from Bosasa (African Global Operations and its subsidiary Global Technology Systems) in September 2016.

The upgrades to his home in Pretoria include:

• an electric fence;
• perimeter beams;
• an alarm system; and
• a CCTV system.

According to the state, Nair received the upgrades from Bosasa for acting in a dishonest, improper and unlawful manner.

Nair, who has been on suspension as a magistrate for more than four years, has denied receiving such benefits from Bosasa.

TimesLIVE