/ 30 October 2006

Case against Scorpions advocate postponed

The case against a Scorpions advocate accused of corruption was postponed in the Randburg Regional Court on Monday until November 30.

State prosecutor Herman Broodryk said the case against Portia Kgantsi was postponed for further investigation.

Kgantsi (39) was arrested earlier this month after being found with R40 000, thought to have been paid to her by awaiting-trial detainees in a criminal matter being handled by the Scorpions.

Two of the men arrested had allegedly paid her large amounts of cash ”in exchange for her promises to have the criminal matter go away”.

It is also alleged that Kgantsi later approached a police officer in a separate matter asking for four kilograms of hashish — worth an estimated R1-million on the street — confiscated in a Scorpions raid.

She is charged with bribery, corruption, extortion and defeating the ends of justice.

Two weeks ago, she was refused bail by a Randburg magistrate because she had falsely claimed in an affidavit that she had handed in a valid passport when it was in fact an expired passport and she still had a valid one in her possession.

Also against Kgantsi was a prior conviction for theft, about which she had never told the National Prosecuting Authority. — Sapa