Tembisa Hospital case postponed to ‘ensure no witness is intimidated’

A prosecutor in the case of the Hawks officer and Tembisa Hospital staffer accused of an attempted bribe in the ongoing investigations into the R2bn looted from the facility says they want to ensure that no witnesses expected to give evidence are intimidated.

Speaking at the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday, where Sgt Papi Tsie and Zacharia Tsisele made their first appearance over a R100,000 attempted bribery claim, Adv Ngoako Mokumo asked for postponement for the state to tie some loose ends related to the case.

Tsie and Tsisele were arrested on Sunday after they allegedly attempted to bribe an investigating officer who is tasked with investigating the R2bn looting spree that occurred at the hospital.

“We want to be sure that there will be no witness intimidated and also to ensure that there will be no interference in terms of investigations,” Mokumo said, adding that they still need to obtain the profile of the accused.

However, Adv Nsuku Baloyi, Tsie’s lawyer, said he could not proceed with a bail application for his clients because the state had failed to profile them, which showed competence on their part.

“It appears, your lordship, it is a matter of verifying whether the accused before the court have previous convictions. That’s basic information that a police officer [arresting] can just go to the system and check,” said Baloyi.

“It’s an element of laziness and incompetence on the state and lack of preparation cannot be ground for postponement.”

As a result, the matter was postponed to December 2 for a bail application.

In September, Special Investigating Unit boss Andy Mothibi revealed that 15 Tembisa Hospital employees were involved in corruption, money laundering, collusion and bid rigging to benefit the syndicates that looted the R2bn.

He said hospital managers received substantial payments from various syndicates, allowing them to embezzle more than R2bn.

Sowetan