An application by alleged underworld kingpin and murder accused, Mark Lifman, to have his bail conditions amended so that he can work overseas has been dismissed by the Western Cape High Court.
In the judgement handed down by Acting Judge Adrian Montzinger last week, he described Lifman’s claim that he needed to travel to Turkey as “unusual”.
Lifman along with alleged Sexy Boys gang boss, Jerome “Donkie”’Booysen, was busted for the murder of Brian Wainstein who was shot in his Constantia home in 2017.
Wainstein, known as the “Steroid King”, was on Interpol’s most wanted list after he allegedly smuggled steroids worth R76 million into SA.
In 2018, it emerged that Wainstein had been involved in the turf war for Cape Town’s nightclub protection and extortion racket.
Lifman and Booysen were released on R100 000 bail after the state did not oppose their bail on the grounds that they surrender their passports.
In August, Lifman petitioned the court to amend his bail conditions to allow him to travel to Turkey where he would work for Cisiy Textiles, located in Bursa.
He stated that he would also need to travel to other countries to source fabrics and yarn.
He even offered to pay R100 000 bail for the travelling condition to be lifted.
But Montzinger raised concerns about extradition in case Lifman tried to flee: “Then there is the possibility that Mr Lifman may take advantage of the fact that there is no effective cooperation from the Turkey authorities to extradite criminal suspects.
“The State mentions a certain Mr Naidoo who is apparently an associate of Mr Lifman and who is also implicated in the crimes that Mr Lifman is charged with.
“Mr Naidoo is currently in Turkey and the State is experiencing great difficulty in having him extradited.”
He said Lifman had failed to prove that the amendment of his bail conditions would be in the interest of justice and dismissed the application.