Former supply chain head 'instructed to draft memo that ensured R24.9m tender for Nulane'

A state witness in Nulane Investments' R24.9m fraud and money-laundering case has placed a former Free State agriculture department CFO at the centre of a memo that handed the tender to Iqbal Sharma's company.

Shadrack Cezula, a section 204 indemnity witness, drafted the deviation memo used to ensure Nulane Investments was awarded the contract without it being put on open tender.

The former acting head of supply chain in the department and the second witness to be called by the state told the Free State High Court that Seipati Dhlamini, his boss and then CFO, instructed him to draft the document.

Dhlamini is accused No 3, charged with Sharma, Peter Thabethe, Limakatso Moorosi, Ronica Ragavan and Sharma's brother-in-law, Dinesh Patel.

A letter from New Delhi, India-based scrap-metal dealer World Impact, which proposed to partner with the department, supported the memo, according to Cezula.