The Western Cape High Court has endorsed a warrant to allow alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack to consult with his lawyer amid ongoing delays.
Modack returned to court yesterday, during delays in appointing legal representatives for his upcoming tax fraud trial.
He was arrested alongside his mom Ruwaida and brother Yaseen nearly three years ago.
The trio along with former SARS employee Faried van der Schyff, as well as Bashier Syce, Layla Bedderson, Dominique McLachlan and Kulsum van der Schyff, were bust for allegedly defrauding SARS out of R46 million.
The group faces over 700 charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering and contraventions of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act.
The State is set to prove that the group had registered as VAT vendors and were e-filing claims for refunds which could not be determined, and that payments of R46m were received.
Proceedings were again hamstrung yesterday, as Judge Nathan Erasmus was forced to allow a break for Modack to consult his lawyer Schalk van der Merwe.
According to the State prosecutor, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) had records of Modack being in contact with a lawyer telephonically while at Helderstroom Prison, but Van der Merwe said it was not him.
Asked if he had received financial instructions, Van der Merwe said: “The problem is I have not been able to consult. The legal representative was for another matter in the regional court.”
He explained that Modack was not being allowed to make contact with anyone on the outside to pay his legal fees, hence they could not indicate if they were ready to proceed.
Erasmus endorsed the warrant of detention so Van der Merwe could be allowed to consult.
In earlier proceedings it was revealed that the management at Helderstroom had also allegedly reduced his allocated time.
The case resumes on August 11.
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