The case involving 23 MPs accused of misusing travel vouchers was postponed for further investigation by the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The MPs — mostly charged with fraud — appeared briefly before magistrate Sammy Maku, who postponed the matter to June 8.
The lead prosecutor, Jannie van Vuuren, said the MPs are entitled to make additional representations to Vusi Pikoli, the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
Most of the accused are members of the ruling African National Congress, with a few from the Democratic Alliance.
”Further accused will be added over the next few weeks,” said Van Vuuren.
Applying for the postponement, Van Vuuren said given the complexity of the matter, which includes trawling through bank records, the state needs more time to investigate.
Van Vuuren acknowledged the postponement is a lengthy one but argued it is warranted.
”The forensic examination is a massive one.”
He said the state is still involved in plea-bargain representation and ”will be for some time.”
He hopes the state will finalise all outstanding issues before the next appearance date.
Earlier, the MPs huddled together, nervously chatting before the proceedings got under way.
Their appearance was only part one of the Travelgate scam, with the seven travel agents and employees also implicated appearing in court after them.
Investigators say the scam involved conspiracy to have travel vouchers valid only for air trips ”extended” to cover costs such as car hire and hotel accommodation.
Agents allegedly added destination routes to inflate prices, issued and cancelled tickets on the same day, and then claimed the full fare from Parliament.
Van Vuuren said the state intends to join the two cases, if possible.
Earlier, Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said only 23 of 29 MPs would appear on Friday, with Scorpions still listening to representations.
He said the MPs are not under arrest. In fraud cases, the accused parties are not arrested unless they had benefited from the fraud by more than R500 000, Nkosi explained.
”If the accused had committed fraud of more than R500 000, it would then have been up to the magistrate to decide if bail was needed,” Nkosi said.
Three MPs did not appear on Friday. They had apparently legitimate excuses, and are to appear on March 2. But warrants of arrest were authorised and held over until that date, in case they fail to appear then.
ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe and correctional services portfolio committee chairperson Dennis Bloem were interested observers. — Sapa