AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
TWO senior crime fighters who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law have been granted bail of R20 000 in the Pretoria Magistrates Court.
Advocate Matric Luphondo, a senior prosecutor in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Lieutenant-Colonel Ayanda Plaatjie, from the Hawks and Kebone Masange, the head of the Department of Human Settlement in Mpumalanga were arrested and charged with fraud.
It’s the state’s case that the three attempted to bribe a prosecutor to drop the case against Masange, whose citizenship is under investigation. Masange, a Zimbabwean national, was arrested in September 2020 on charges of contravening the Immigration Act, fraud and possession of fraudulent documents.
The state has alleged that on March 23 Luphondo, the acting-director of Public Prosecutions in Mpumalanga, handed prosecutor Andrew Mphaga an 18-year-old bottle of Glenfiddich whisky, worth R1500 and R5,000 in cash to make Masange’s case go away.
The state further alleges that on March 27, Plaatje met Mphaga at a spot in Pretoria and gave him R28,000.
In its bid to prevent the court from granting bail, the state disclosed that their case relied on audio and video evidence.
The case was postponed to July 23.