Bosasa whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi fit to stand trial, and will face two cases in one

Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi gestures during his testimony at the State Capture commission in Johannesburg on 22 January 2019. During his testimony chaired by Judge Raymond Zondo, Agrizzi testified how Bosasa allegedly used its influence to ensure the awarding of Department of Correctional Services contracts with the help of then commissioner Linda Mti and CFO Patrick Gillingham, who were both alleged to have been receiving bribes. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Alon Skuy)

By Vincent Cruywagen

1 Mar 2024

Ailing Bosasa whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi, has been declared fit to stand trial with a finding that he will be understand the proceedings. The R1.8-billion fraud and corruption trial, in which he is accused along with three others, will be heard with a separate corruption case involving former ANC MP Vincent Smith.

A psychiatric evaluation report prepared by Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital has declared that Bosasa whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi, is fit to stand trial, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday, 29 February.

According to the report compiled by three psychiatrists who examined Agrizzi, he can understand court proceedings, present an adequate defence and has no psychotic diagnosis. The only condition mentioned in the report is Agrizzi’s physical medical condition – because he is on permanent oxygen, he needs time to recover.

The psychiatric evaluation further recommended that Agrizzi be allowed a break or that the court sit in shorter sessions to minimise any discomfort for Agrizzi.

Agrizzi, who was not in court on Thursday, has been following court proceedings via video link for quite some time now, after Gauteng High Court Judge David Makhoba ruled that he could attend his fraud and corruption trial virtually.

This psychiatric report brings to an end a three-year battle to have the two cases in which he is implicated heard in court.

The first case is the R1.8-billion fraud and corruption trial, in which Agrizzi is accused alongside former Department of Correctional Services (DCS) commissioner Lindi Mti, former Correctional Services chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham, and former Bosasa chief financial officer Andries van Tonder. The matter involves tenders awarded by the DCS to Bosasa and its subsidiaries in August 2004 and 2007.

Agrizzi was also charged alongside former ANC MP Vincent Smith in a separate corruption and fraud case. Smith stands accused of having received payments and services valued at just over R870,000 from Bosasa, its late CEO Gavin Watson and/or Agrizzi.

Read more in Daily Maverick “Agrizzi and Smith’s key relationship in Bosasa fraud scandal unfolds in court papers”

The Bosasa scandal was blown wide open when Agrizzi gave deeply self-incriminating evidence during his testimony at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on 23 January 2019, claiming that he was aware of and involved in corruption throughout his tenure at Bosasa.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ‘Bosasa simply had no shame’ – Watson brothers’ company hammered in State Capture report’

Agrizzi and Mti were among others arrested by the Hawks on allegations of corruption in February 2019. Since then, the State has worked tirelessly to get the trial started.

Agrizzi’s ill health

Agrizzi of Bosasa Angelo Agrizzi is on constant oxygen, with doctors recommending that he take breaks during court proceedings to recover. (Photo: Elizabeth Sejake/Gallo Images/Rapport)

Agrizzi has not been in court since October 2020 after suffering a heart attack on 21 October 2020. He was in intensive care at the Life Fourways Hospital until 7 December 2020.

Then pulmonologist Dr Muhammad Chohan diagnosed Agrizzi with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, acute renal failure and liver dysfunction. He said Agrizzi was mechanically ventilated and sedated, but was conscious and on dialysis.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Ailing former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi’s chances of survival ‘less than 30-40%’, court told”

Furthermore neurosurgeon Dr Herman Edeling, who performed a neurological examination on Agrizzi, told the court during an inquiry into Agrizzi’s continued absence from court that when he examined Agrizzi he did not appear to have the mental capacity to understand a question immediately.

Because of Agrizzi’s illness, these trials could not begin, and it was eventually decided to separate the two fraud cases in which Aggrizzi was accused.

In July 2021, the Specialised Commercial Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court granted the State’s application for Agrizzi and Smith to be tried separately.

On Friday, 2 December 2023, Judge Makhoba ruled in Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that Agrizzi would be tried separately from his co-accused in the Correctional Services corruption and fraud case.

According to Judge Makhoba, medical experts who testified in this court indicated that Agrizzi could not concentrate for more than 20 minutes, adding that during these proceedings, the court had to take numerous adjournments to enable Agrizzi to recuperate.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Court orders Angelo Agrizzi to be tried separately in Correctional Services corruption case.”

To finally get the matter to trial, Judge Makhoba on September 28, 2023, ordered that professionals determine whether Agrizzi was mentally fit to stand trial. Five months later, a panel of psychiatrists determined that he was fit to stand trial.

Combine matters

bosasa court agrizzi Angelo Agrizzi gestures during his testimony at the Zondo Commission into State Capture in Johannesburg in 2019. (Photo:Alon Skuy/Gallo Images/Sowetan )

On Friday, Agrizzi’s legal representative, advocate Mannie Witz, stated that his client underwent a battery of tests, including a medical evaluation, beginning at the end of January this year and ending earlier this month.

He stated that the panel concluded, from a psychological and psychiatric standpoint, that despite Agrizzi’s physical and medical conditions, he was able to understand and follow proceedings, present a proper defence and stand trial.

Witz added that he appeared in Palm Ridge Specialised Crime Court last week in the Smith case, and Rodney de Kock, deputy director of Public Prosecutions, gave the necessary directive under section 22(3) of the Prosecution Act to join the Smith case with the R1.8-billion Bosasa case in order to assist the State and the parties involved. Both cases will then be heard in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, he explained.

The matter has been remanded to 26 April 2024. DM

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Agrizzi’s ill health

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