A Gauteng magistrate has allegedly been caught red-handed taking a bribe to stop the extradition of a witness in Radovan Krejcir’s criminal trial.
Yesterday, Midrand Magistrate Johannes Kgomo appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on two charges of corruption.
According to the charge sheet, Kgomo, who is out on R30 000 bail, was caught accepting a R150 000 bribe in a police sting operation.
His lawyer said Kgomo would plead not guilty. The money was allegedly paid to suborn another magistrate into making the extradition case of Botswana fugitive Paul Mthabela ‘disappear’.
Mthabela, a state witness against Czech fugitive Krejcir and his five co-accused in a kidnapping, assault, attempted murder and drug dealing case, fled Botswana in 2007 after allegedly defrauding the government’s medical aid scheme of more than R17m.
He was arrested in SA in 2011 but released on bail by the Randburg Magistrate’s Court pending his extradition hearing.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
