Former Johannesburg State Attorney Kgosi Lekabe has launched a fresh legal bid to halt his prosecution on corruption, fraud and racketeering charges, claiming that the NPA's decision to charge him was unconstitutional, irrational and based on legally defective authorisations.

In a founding affidavit filed in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), Lekabe paints himself as the victim of an unlawful prosecution process which centres on allegations that millions of rands were syphoned from the Office of the State Attorney through fraudulent invoices submitted between 2013 and 2018.

He was suspended from his post in October 2018 and subsequently resigned while facing 22 charges of serious misconduct.

TimesLIVE reports that investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) uncovered an allegedly corrupt and collusive relationship between Lekabe and Advocate Hassan Ebrahim Kajee.

The SIU also stopped the Government Employees Pension Fund from releasing Lekabe’s R4m pension benefit, securing the funds as financial collateral for the state while legal recovery proceedings continued. 

Lekabe is attempting to have the NPA’s decision to prosecute him on racketeering charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act declared invalid and set aside.

He is also seeking to interdict the NPA from pursuing similar charges against him unless prosecutors first place facts under oath directly implicating him before the NDPP.

He faces 88 criminal counts, including fraud, theft, racketeering and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act.

In his affidavit, he argues the prosecution is legally defective because the NPA allegedly authorised the racketeering charges without proper factual basis: ‘The charges are born out of decisions made by the NDPP to issue two certificates authorising my prosecution.’

He attempts to dismantle the state’s allegation that he orchestrated or knowingly approved fraudulent invoices submitted by Kajee and co-accused Vijay Dhulam.

The state alleges the trio operated a criminal enterprise within the Johannesburg State Attorney’s Office, where Kajee would allegedly submit fraudulent invoices for police-related matters, which were then unlawfully approved for payment.

Lekabe claims the criminal matter has already been postponed more than 10 times since the accused first appeared in court in July 2024 and insists none of the delays were caused by him. 

TimesLIVE notes that he argues that pursuing an appeal against the magistrate’s ruling would delay the trial by at least another year.

Full TimesLIVE report