The Germiston Regional Court has postponed until October the trial of three men against whom Glenn Agliotti is expected to testify.
In an appearance on Tuesday, the case was postponed for trial until October 14, 15 and 16 and October 28, 29 and 30.
Stephan Paparos, his father, Dimitrio, and Stanley Poonin stand accused of dealing in hashish.
Counsel for all three accused, Sita Kolbe SC, submitted that this further postponement was ”totally unacceptable”.
The case was to have gone to trial in August 2006, she told the court, proceeding to request a further relaxation of their bail conditions.
Stephen Paparos is out on bail of R500 000. His father was granted bail of R50 000 and Poonin bail R25 000, all subject to a number of conditions.
Magistrate James van Wyk ruled that the senior Paparos no longer had to report to the police as he was ill, had recently been hospitalised and would probably have to undergo triple-bypass heart surgery.
”I hope your operation is a great success …,” Van Wyk told Paparos.
He ruled that the younger Paparos appear in court on Monday for the amendment of his bail conditions.
Van Wyk told the accused he did not ”have any jurisdiction” over the seizure of their assets and could therefore make no order regarding the return of the items taken.
Earlier, Kolbe told the court that the state had agreed to return a cake mixer.
She put it to the court that this was presumably because the state would have ”some difficulty” persuading the court it was used to commit a crime.
She further submitted that there was no evidence before the court of a firearm and certain vehicles seized in the commission of a crime.
Van Wyk told the accused he was ”automatically disqualified” from hearing a trial as he had been privy to certain information submitted in plea and sentence agreements he had dealt with in the same court.
”I cannot sit here and pretend I’m objective if I have information about certain things that happened in plea agreements.”
In a plea agreement in December, Agliotti was found guilty of contravening the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years, and was fined R500 000, R200 000 of which was paid into the asset recovery accounts, as the proceeds of crime.
In exchange Agliotti was required to testify against the Paparos father and son and Poonin.
Agliotti is also expected to testify against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, and is also allegedly implicated in the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble. — Sapa