A state witness in Nulane Investments' R24.9m fraud and money-laundering case has placed a former Free State agriculture department CFO at the centre of a memo that handed the tender to Iqbal Sharma's company.

Shadrack Cezula, a section 204 indemnity witness, drafted the deviation memo used to ensure Nulane Investments was awarded the contract without it being put on open tender.

The former acting head of supply chain in the department and the second witness to be called by the state told the Free State High Court that Seipati Dhlamini, his boss and then CFO, instructed him to draft the document.

Dhlamini is accused No 3, charged with Sharma, Peter Thabethe, Limakatso Moorosi, Ronica Ragavan and Sharma's brother-in-law, Dinesh Patel.

A letter from New Delhi, India-based scrap-metal dealer World Impact, which proposed to partner with the department, supported the memo, according to Cezula.

He said Dhlamini told him the letter came from then head of department and accused No 1 Thabethe, adding that Dhlamini dictated what needed to be in the memo.

"As she dictated what needs to appear in the deviation, I had to type as she was dictating," Cezula told the court.

He indicated that he accepted he made an error of judgment by following his supervisor's orders. 

The trial relates to an allegedly corrupt feasibility study contract that was a precursor to the controversial Estina dairy farm project in Vrede.

The matter continues.

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