DISGRACED ex-Limpopo safety and security MEC and disbarred senior advocate Seth Nthai is expected to finally appear before the South Gauteng High Court to face charges of soliciting a R5 million bribe 15 years ago.
The charges relate to Nthai, 64, demanding payment of the R5m bribe in 2009 from a group of Italian investors seeking mining rights in South Africa.
Nthai was representing the government in the International Arbitration Tribunal at a time when the dispute, having been briefed by the Office of the State Attorney.
His fees for being involved in the matter stood at €432 320.21 (over R8.25m in the current exchange rate) but the tribunal ruled that he could not be paid as a result of his conduct when it was finalised in the government’s favour.
Nthai wanted the bribe to be paid into his foreign bank account and in return, he would then use his influence to get the government to agree to settle the matter with each party paying its own costs.
South Gauteng High Court Judge Dario Dosio last month postponed the matter to tomorrow (Monday, October 14) and extended his R5 000 bail, which he was granted by the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court in 2022.
Nthai had wanted the high court to set down his criminal trial for February next year pending the finalisation of his review of National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi’s decision to prosecute him.
He launched his review application in February this year, asking the high court to adjourn his trial until February 17, 2025, on the basis that if the review application has been determined and is successful then the holding date will fall away.
“If the review application is unsuccessful by the holding date of February 17, 2025, trial dates will be determined by the court,” Nthai told the high court.
He also undertook to appear in court in February or any other trial dates to be determined by the high court.
On September 26, Judge Dosio found that the delay sought by Nthai was unreasonable the Criminal Procedure Act and amounted to a “Stalingrad defence”, which would inevitably cost the state and the taxpayer a considerable amount of money.
“There is no mention made in the accused’s (Nthai’s) argument that the charges he is facing are complicated. To argue that a criminal trial should not proceed because of a pending review application has a serious effect on the administration of justice and offends Section 165 of the Constitution (judicial authority),” the judge stated.
Nthai’s woes started after the Pretoria Society of Advocates (PSA) and the Johannesburg Society of Advocates (JSA) received complaints about his unethically and breach of his professional duties as an advocate and then instituted disciplinary proceedings against him.
He was found guilty in absentia in 2010 of corruptly, improperly, and dishonestly attempting to solicit a bribe and placing his own financial interest above his client’s, among others.
The disciplinary committee recommended that Nthai’s membership of the PSA and JSA be terminated and an application to have him struck from the roll of advocates be instituted at the North Gauteng High Court, which was granted in 2013.
Nthai then successfully approached the Limpopo High Court in 2019 to be re-admitted as an advocate after pleading with the PSA, JSA and the Legal Practice Council (LPC) to forgive him.
However, the JSA and LPC filed an application for leave to appeal, which was initially refused by the high court in Polokwane, but the ruling readmitting Nthai as an advocate was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in 2020.
In addition, the SCA ordered its judgment to be forwarded to Batohi for her attention.
Nthai, admitted as an advocate in 1988 and awarded senior counsel status in 1996, was safety and security MEC in the Northern Province (as Limpopo was referred to at the time) between 1994 and 1999.