Nafiz Modack and his co-accused are expected to be tried at the beginning of 2024 in two cases – one for VAT fraud and another for murder – but prosecutors will have to slug it out to decide which case is heard first, News24 reports.

Judge Nathan Erasmus said the prosecutors must discuss the matter urgently to avoid a situation where the court orders one of the cases be removed from the roll for the time being.

'If the prosecution in the two matters can't agree on who does first, I will have to make that order. And I will make that order. Get it done quickly,' said Erasmus.

In the hybrid pre-trial sitting in the Western Cape High Court on Friday, Erasmus was told Modack was still struggling to get money to confirm he could pay his lawyer until the end of each trial.

The accused in the VAT fraud case are Modack, tax practitioner Faried van der Schyff, Modack's mother Ruwaida Modack, his brother Yaseen Modack, Bashier Syce, Nadia Sait, Dominique McLachlan, Kulsum van der Schyff and Layla Bedderson.

They are accused of pulling off a R46m VAT fraud scheme involving allegedly fake VAT refund claims.

According to the indictment, collectively, they face 711 charges relating to allegations that SARS paid out R46 651 794 in tax refunds which were not due to the companies.

Regarding the huge murder and racketeering trial sparked by the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear, Erasmus set a to-do list for all of the accused's lawyers so they can be ready for trial.

Erasmus is looking at the first term of 2024 for the trial to start.

To get things going smoothly and not waste time, he told them to get their possible pleas and admissions done by then. 

Both matters were postponed to 13 October.

Full News24 report