Negotiations between the Scorpions and the late Brett Kebble’s security chief, Clinton Nassif, will be finalised in court on Friday.
Scorpions prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the Scorpions had not yet completed discussions with Nassif about his arrest for involvement in alleged drug dealing.
Appearing after a two-hour delay at the Alberton Regional Court sitting in Germiston, Nel said the matter was still not ready to be heard in court because of a power failure.
He said ”lots of gremlins crept into the papers”.
Magistrate James van Wyk said ”some or other problems were experienced” and therefore court would reconvene at 9am on Friday.
Nassif had been expected to enter into a plea bargain agreement on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, 39-year-old Nassif was added to the list of accused in a drug case that includes Brett Kebble murder-accused Glenn Agliotti and four others.
Nel had asked the court to reconvene on Wednesday to allow the prosecution to finalise negotiations with Nassif.
Outside the court on Wednesday, Nel told journalists he was ”embarrassed” but the delay was because of the recent power failures experienced over the city.
He said prosecutors were attending to the details and would be ready to proceed with the matter promptly on Friday.
When asked whether a deal between the Scorpions and Nassif had fallen through, Nel said he would prefer ”not to talk about negotiations”.
The drug-dealing case was a ”very complicated investigation”, he said.
Nel said he was ”convinced” that ”all the big guys” related to the alleged drug-dealing case had now been arrested.
Nassif managed to give reporters the slip when arriving at court.
He left in attorney Marius du Toit’s luxury vehicle without speaking to the media.
On Tuesday, Magistrate James van Wyk also postponed the start of trial for the four other accused — Agliotti, Stephanos Paparas, his father Dimitrio Paparas, and Stanley Poonin — until March 4 2008.
Nel said on Tuesday that ”new facts” in the case made it impossible to proceed with the trial at this time.
The accused face drug-dealing charges for their alleged involvement in a syndicate about to export R250-million-worth of drugs to the United States.
Investigators seized 1 114 kilograms of dagga and 2 064 kilograms of hashish at the time of their arrest.
Three men — Lesley Allan Curtis, Christiaan Alblas and Pedro Marques — arrested in connection with the case have turned state witness.
Both Agliotti — who is allegedly the ”the Landlord” in charge of the smuggling network — and Nassif are now connected to each other in two criminal cases.
Agliotti — a friend of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi — is due to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on January 22 for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.
Nassif has turned state witness against Agliotti in the Kebble murder trial. — Sapa