Top lawyer calls on NPA to review Ntutu's pending arrest
A prominent lawyer representing Amathole ANC regional secretary Teris Ntutu has told the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Advocate Shaun Abrahams, that arresting and charging Ntutu will have far-reaching consequences for the politician who is busy preparing for the looming ANC provincial and national conferences.
Ntutu has hired Mvuzo Notyesi to defend him in the Mnquma municipality corruption probed that has rocked the Eastern Cape. Notyesi is famously known for being the lawyer of former president Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. He is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission, having been appointed by President Jacob Zuma.
The Hawks have requested Ntutu to hand himself over today to appear in the Butterworth Magistrate's Court in relation to kickbacks he received from a Butterworth businessman shortly after a R10-million refuse bag tender was awarded to him by the Mnquma municipality. The tender was awarded to Big Event Boy Pty Ltd manager Sive Nombembe. Upon receiving the funds Nombembe deposited amounts ranging from R15 000 to R100 000 to Ntutu's FNB bank account. Notyesi told Abrahams that the funds were linked to Ntutu's boxing business.
Nombembe was arrested alongside Mnquma municipal manager Sindile Tantsi for the tender fraud. Tantsi passed away from a car crash last month. Now Ntutu's lawyer wants the charges against him scrapped.
DispatchLIVE has seen a letter Notyesi wrote on May Day to Abrahams requesting him to review the decision to arrest and charge Ntutu. "The arrest and institution of criminal proceedings against our client will have far-reaching consequences upon our client who is presently an elected Regional Secretary of the African National Congress. The arrest on its own will adversely affect the political career and standing of Mr Ntutu. The ANC in the Eastern Cape and nationally are preparing for conferences in which leaders of the ruling party shall be elected. Our client has a serious and major role in the preparation of such conferences," Notyesi wrote.
In the letter to Abrahams Notyesi went further to say there was a general perception that both the Hawks and NPA were being used to advance political objectives and this perception undermined public confidence to the Constitutional supporting institutions.
"In a corruption charge, there must be a corruptee and corruptor, and our client is neither of those because he is not an official of the municipality and has no influence in the decision-making for the municipal tenders. The worst part of the State case is that Mr Tantsi has since passed away," Notyesi told Abrahams.
He continued: "In relation to payments made to our client by Mr Nombembe, such conduct on its own does not constitute an offence. Our client used to conduct boxing business and he had a business which raised substantial income for him in terms of which he would have cash readily available. It makes no sense then that simply because there was payment made to him by Mr Nombembe that he is corrupt or had a corrupt relationship."