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Angelo Agrizzi cross-questioning hits snag at Zondo commission

Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture at Parktown in Johannesburg.
Former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture at Parktown in Johannesburg.
Image: Thapelo Morebudi/Sunday Times

Armscor chief executive Kevin Wakeford's cross-examination of former Bosasa officials Angelo Agrizzi and Frans Vorster at the state capture inquiry has been postponed.

The postponement relates to information contained in files held by curators of the controversial facilities management company which has not been made available to the commission to date.

Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, who chairs the commission, granted Wakeford leave to cross-examine Agrizzi and Vorster on October 7.

The commission's advocate Paul Pretorius said on Wednesday that lawyers representing Agrizzi and Vorster have argued for the postponement of their cross-examination because "factual matters" contained in Bosasa's records have not yet been made available to the commission.

That documentation, he said, is presently under the control of curators who are themselves in dispute as to who is the legitimate curator of the company - a matter which has been taken to the courts.

Advocate Reg Willis, representing Wakeford, said Agrizzi's submissions for a postponement misrepresented facts.

"This affidavit placed before you ignored the facts in relation of the history of this matter. The affidavit does two things, it misrepresented the facts in the past couple months, it strives to then tar our client with the results of today. This affidavit is willfully misleading of you and this commission," he said.

Zondo postponed the matter without setting a new date for it to be heard.

"I will postpone the matter at this stage without fixing a date but with a clear understanding that everything that needs to be done should be done to make sure that we can fix a date as soon as possible," he said.

Agrizzi previously told the commission that Wakeford allegedly received R100,000 from Bosasa every month to help stifle investigations into Bosasa by the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

“Wakeford told us that George Papadakis (a senior Sars official) could resolve all the issues ... Bosasa entered into an agreement with Wakeford to pay him the amount of R100,000 a month as a fee for providing services in relation to the Sars investigation," Agrizzi told the commission.

Wakeford was put on special leave from Armscor after the allegations emerged.

It is unclear when the commission will resume, with a witness for Friday yet to be scheduled. If the witness is not set down, the commission will continue on Wednesday next week with evidence related to the Vrede dairy farm project.

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