Corruption case of Richard Mdluli, co-accused set down for trial in October

The Pretoria high court on Monday postponed the corruption case against former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli and his two co-accused until October 7 for trial.  

Investigating Directorate spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the court ordered that the trial will commence on the set date regardless of the pending outcome on an application by Mdluli compelling the police service to pay for his legal fees. 

The police had denied Mdluli funding in January 2022 and the case was postponed in September that year to October that year to allow Mdluli to provide the court with an update on the progress of a review application against his former employer. 

Mdluli, former crime intelligence CFO Solly Lazarus and former head of supply chain management Heine Barnard face charges of corruption, fraud and theft allegedly committed between 2008 and 2012 when they were at the helm of the department. 

The charges relate to allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund, from which Mdluli and his family are said to have benefited. They include:

• payment of private trips to China and Singapore;
• private use of a witness protection house in Boksburg and conversion of this property for his personal use;
• the leasing out of Mdluli’s private townhouse at Gordon Villas in Gordons Bay as a safe house to the state; and
• using the monthly rental to pay his bond. 

Other allegations are that Mdluli’s family members, without adequate qualifications or experience, were appointed in crime intelligence and provided with motor vehicles and cellphones.

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