Politician and convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni has accused former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka of reneging on a deal guaranteeing him a maximum R5 000 fine in exchange for a guilty plea.
Yengeni, who faces a four-year prison term, claims the agreement was struck at a meeting between himself, Ngcuka and then justice minister Penuell Maduna at the latter’s Johannesburg home in January 2003.
”Mr Ngcuka called me Hlathi, my clan name, and said that I was his ‘home boy’. He further indicated that he was not interested in destroying me and that he was in agreement that the matter should be settled.”
Yengeni claims Maduna suggested the case be withdrawn for lack of evidence.
”Mr Ngcuka indicated that he could not withdraw the matter as the case had already commenced and … attracted a lot of public and media attention.”
It was then agreed that he would plead guilty to the lesser of the charges against him, Yengeni, a former African National Congress chief whip, states in an affidavit filed in the Pretoria High Court in a revised notice of appeal.
”I accepted the arrangement even though I still felt that I was innocent of all the charges.
”I was satisfied that an agreement had been reached which would prevent a protracted trial.”
But in argument on sentencing at the conclusion of his trial, the state did not suggest a fine — instead emphasising the seriousness of the offence of which he was convicted, Yengeni claims.
He accuses Ngcuka of never intending to honour ”the agreement”.
Yengeni says he attended a meeting of ANC officials in February 2003 to raise his concerns about Ngcuka’s ”conduct”.
At that meeting, Maduna confirmed the existence of an agreement with Yengeni and suggested Ngcuka was not keeping his side of the bargain, out of concern for his public integrity.
”It was agreed that Dr Maduna would meet with Mr Ngcuka to discuss the matter and insure [sic] that the agreement be implemented,” the affidavit states.
”Despite the aforegoing, I can only draw the inference that Mr Ngcuka defied the agreement confirmed by Mr Maduna, reached at the meeting with the ANC officials.”
Yengeni says he only considered pleading guilty because he could not afford to fund a protracted trial.
”After the agreement was entered into between Mr Ngcuka, Minister Maduna and myself, I felt that I had no other option but to plead guilty to a watered-down charge to dispose of the matter.
”I verily believed that I would receive a fine not exceeding R5 000.”
Yengeni was sentenced in March 2003 to four years in jail after pleading guilty to defrauding Parliament by failing to disclose a near-50% discount he received on a luxury 4X4 Mercedes-Benz.
He was acquitted of related corruption charges under a plea agreement with the state.
The car deal was arranged by a representative of a bidder in the government’s arms acquisition process. Yengeni was then chairperson of Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence, which oversaw the arms deal.
Yengeni resigned as an MP two weeks before he was sentenced, and is out on R10 000 bail. The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, which convicted him, ruled that Yengeni could be considered for correctional supervision after serving a sixth (eight months) of his sentence.
An appeal was lodged with the high court last year, initially only against the ”harsh and severe” sentence. But in the latest documents, Yengeni also seeks the setting aside of his conviction.
He claims that the funding of his trial was taken over by a friend, Mzi Khumalo, when Yengeni ran out of money. Khumalo agreed to help, provided Yengeni settled the matter quickly and pleaded guilty.
Yengeni says he later learnt of a ”good relationship” between Khumalo and Ngcuka. Had he been aware of it, he would not have accepted Khumalo’s assistance.
Yengeni maintains that his failure to declare the discount was ”only a breach of a parliamentary rule and did not constitute a criminal offence”.
No date has yet been set for the appeal to be heard. — Sapa