State capture-accused Eric Wood, who flew out of the country last month to visit his family in Europe, is back in SA, in time for his next court appearance.
He arrived only on Saturday, instead of Friday when he was expected to touch down.
Wood, who is out on R250,000 bail, has already handed his travel documents back to the investigating officer in his case.
Last month, Wood, 59, convinced the specialised commercial crimes court in Palm Ridge that he was not a flight-risk and it was in the interests of justice he be allowed to visit his elderly and sickly parents in Grand Canaria, one of the Spanish Canary Islands.
After spending time with his parents, while staying with a friend in Grand Canaria, Wood visited his daughter Zara in London and was supposed to have returned to Johannesburg before the end of September.
We made a commitment to court that we will add more accused before the case returns on October 14 and that is exactly what has been done.
— NPA spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed on Monday that Wood returned to the country on Saturday, October 1.
“The investigating officer has confirmed receiving his passport on the October 1. However, his legal team informed the investigating officer about the delay,” said NPA spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.
The state had unsuccessfully opposed Wood’s application, who has dual SA-UK citizenship, saying there was a risk he could fail to return to stand trial.
The former Regiments Capital director is implicated in a Transnet fraud and corruption case involving other former executives of the parastatal, including former CEOs Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama.
Their next court appearance is on October 14.
Wood is charged with fraud and corruption related to the R398.4m Transnet locomotive advisory contracts.
On Friday, Goitseone Mangope, a representative of multinational management consulting firm McKinsey and Companies SA, was added in the case.
Vigas Sagar, a former principal and employee of McKinsey has also been indicted, Seboka stated.
“However, he (Sagar) is still being sought by us, as he is not in the country. We made a commitment to court that we will add more accused before the case returns on October 14 and that is exactly what has been done,” Seboka said.
Woods has assets in SA, worth an estimated R450m, held under restraint by the NPA. He lives in one of Johannesburg’s most expensive suburbs, Sandhurst.
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