Two more MPs have been fined — under plea agreements with the state — for their role in the Travelgate scam, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
African National Congress (ANC) MP Danny Olifant was given the option of paying a R30 000 fine or spending three years in jail for abusing Parliament’s travel-voucher system.
Former Democratic Alliance MP Craig Morkel was fined R25 000 or three years in prison. He withdrew from political activity in January last year after discovering he was among 40 MPs linked to the parliamentary travel-voucher scam.
”Although I maintain my innocence, I have decided, in line with my party’s policy, to voluntarily suspend myself from all political activity until such time as this matter has been finalised,” he said at the time.
Morkel went on to form his own party, the Progressive Independent Movement, during the floor-crossing period in 2005.
The latest plea bargains follow those reached by ANC MPs Jabu Sosibo and Elizabeth Ngaleka on December 6. Sosibo was fined R100 000 or five years in jail after admitting, in the Cape High Court, to defrauding Parliament of R241 000. Ngaleka pleaded guilty to theft of R37 000 and was fined R20 000 or three years in prison.
The Scorpions have made plea bargains with 32 politicians and one travel agent so far, leaving three sitting and former MPs and five travel agents to stand trial.
Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe has set down three days in February to hear argument for a separation of the trials of the politicians and travel agents. It is expected the trial itself will start only on July 30, after five years of investigations.
In November, Parliament’s former chief finance officer Harry Charlton claimed in an affidavit that additional fraud of R19-million was blocked from investigation months before he was fired.
He brought a Labour Court action against Parliament in June, arguing that he was dismissed in January for blowing the whistle on travel fraud.
His dismissal followed his conviction on 12 disciplinary charges, mainly for alleged unauthorised agreements with suppliers. He denied the accusations, claiming they were trumped up to get rid of him. — Sapa