The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Kimberley has dismissed an application brought by the former HOD for the Northern Cape Department of Health, Dr Dion Theys, to be discharged from the offence where he was charged with contravening the Public Finance Management Act.
THE SPECIALISED Commercial Crimes Court (SCCC) in Kimberley has dismissed an application brought by the former HOD for the Northern Cape Department of Health, Dr Dion Theys, to be discharged from the offence where he was charged with contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
Theys is standing trial for three leases, amounting to over R96 million, that were concluded between the Department of Health and JP Hugo Trading for nurses accommodation.
The State alleges that PFMA prescripts and procurement processes were flouted while Theys was the accounting officer.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said the matter related to an application to be discharged of the offence, where at the close of the State’s case there was no evidence on which the court could link the accused to the charge.
“The section 174 application was dismissed by the SCCC,” said Senokoatsane.
“The trial started on March 29, when the prosecution, led by senior advocate Isaac Mphela, called several witnesses to testify during the trial against the accused.
“One of the first witnesses called was the director-general of the Northern Cape provincial government, Justice Bekebeke, who outlined the processes of PFMA and how government personnel should toil when utilising the public purse, specifically applying the procurement processes.”
Senokoatsane added that the trial was postponed until September 21 when the defence was expected.
“The accused is out on bail of R30,000 and one of the bail conditions was that he had to surrender his passport.”
