Theft charges against Safa's Jordaan dropped, fraud case to proceed

SA Football Association (Safa) boss Danny Jordaan has been let off the hook on theft charges, which were withdrawn on Friday, but will need to return to court in August with his two co-accused on a fraud rap.

Jordaan and co-accused CFO Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling appeared briefly before the Palm Ridge specialised commercial crimes court on Friday. 

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said they had initially presented the court with a provisional charge sheet. 

“Once information becomes available ... that changes the complexion of the case, as the state and in terms of the law, we can still alter the charge sheet, depending on the information available, or remove charges as we have done,” she said. 

This resulted in the three theft charges against Jordaan and Hluyo being withdrawn. 

Mjonondwana denied they had jumped the gun in charging Jordaan and his co-accused.

She said Neethling had made representations to the regional head of the specialised commercial crimes unit, which was made available to the state. 

“The state had to conduct further investigations emanating from the information that was provided by [Neethling] in his representations, which is a normal course in criminal proceedings. As and when information becomes available, we have to act upon such information. 

“When we have to withdraw charges as the state, we will not hesitate to do so because we are not in the business of persecuting people,” she said. 

Three counts of fraud and one of conspiracy to commit fraud still stand. The matter is expected to return to court on August 15. 

Mjonondwana said should Neethling be successful in his bid to avoid prosecution, the matter would return to court before this date.

TimesLIVE