A court case against two men has been rolled over to Wednesday to allow their defense team to verify if there are pending cases or previous convictions.

Mpho Mphahlele, 33, and Peter Moutlane, 51, appeared briefly in the Wynburg Magistrate's Court on charges of corruption and extortion after they posed as senior Hawks officials in an attempt to solicit a R600 000 bribe from a well-known soccer boss, Bobby Motaung.

Their lawyer, advocate Eric Mosehane, told the court that he received information from the Hawks pertaining to his clients’ profiles but needed to verify it before commencing with their bail application.

“I am making a humble request to the court to roll over the matter to tomorrow so I can verify the information I have received. I am afraid my clients’ bail application cannot proceed without checking the accuracy of what I have received,” Mosehane said.

They were arrested three weeks ago at the Premier Hotel in Midrand where they had gone to collect R300 000, part of the requested bribe, from the soccer boss. A third suspect had charges against him withdrawn because he could not be linked to the alleged crime.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuho Mulamu said the police acted on a tip-off to effect the arrests. “One of them called the businessman [soccer boss] and claimed to be a major-general in our unit. He initially demanded close to half-a-million rand to make the case disappear and halt [the] investigations."

Mulamu said the soccer boss contacted the police to make them aware of the suspects posing as Hawks officials.