Fraud, money laundering trial of Shepherd Bushiri, wife postponed
Pretoria - The fraud and money laundering trial of Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary was yesterday provisionally postponed to November 1 in their absence in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
Prosecutor Alicia Roos told Judge Papi Masopa that this was
pending ongoing extradition proceedings in Malawi.
The case against the the self-proclaimed prophet and
Enlightened Christian Gathering royalty was supposed to be heard from yesterday
and had been set down until June 18 following their arrest in February 2019.
They are facing several charges of fraud and money
laundering amounting to more than R15 million.
The Bushiris were at the time released on R100 000 bail each
by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Their case was transferred to the high court, but they
sneaked out of the country and fled to their home in Malawi.
The couple are also accused of contravening South Africa’s
exchange control regulations by paying about R19m for a private jet, which has
meanwhile been forfeited to the State.
Bushiri, in a lengthy affidavit before the court, earlier
fought tooth and nail to retain the plane. He said the plane was bought with
legitimate proceeds from his work.
He blamed a conspiracy and a vendetta by some people against
him due to his popularity as some of the reasons charges of fraud and money
laundering were brought against him and his wife.
The prosecution, however, claimed that the aircraft was “the
proceeds of unlawful activities” and instrumental in the alleged crimes Bushiri
was said to have committed.
The Bushiris’ extradition application is meanwhile expected
to be heard by a Malawi court on June 4.
The couple is fighting extradition, because they believe
they will not receive a fair trial if they return to South Africa.
They handed themselves over to police in Malawi after
Interpol issued a warrant for their arrest.
Pretoria has since formally requested Lilongwe to send the
couple back to stand trial in South Africa.
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