Scorpions investigators and lawyers will soon know whether they can charge former transport minister Mac Maharaj with fraud, corruption, money laundering and possible tax evasion. The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) in Switzerland said this week they were finalising a decision on whether to allow the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to use evidence already in its possession to prosecute Maharaj.

City Press reported last week that Maharaj and his wife Zarina had launched a two-pronged challenge, at the Pretoria High Court and with the Federal Department of Justice and Police in Switzerland, to stall prosecution.

Asked why the FOJ had taken so long to set the Maharaj case for argument, Folco Galli, a FOJ representative, told City Press they needed additional information, which they now have, before taking a decision. “The additional information was sent in June 2006 and in February 2007. The FOJ is actually preparing the decision that can be challenged at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court,” Galli said this week, in a written response.

The documents being fought over in the Maharaj case, Galli’s letter reveals, relates to the “extension of the use of the evidence already transmitted in the (Jacob) Zuma case”. In terms of the law, even if the NPA has the evidence, it must make a fresh request before using the same information in another related case. A source said that should the Swiss allow the NPA to use the evidence, Maharaj could soon face prosecution. Documents in City Press’s possession show that Maharaj was under investigation for allegedly receiving gifts and payments from convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik in connection with a lucrative N3 toll gate and credit-card driver’s licence tender.

Following Shaik’s conviction, Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts suggested the R650-million driving-licence contract awarded to Prodiba be cancelled. The Prodiba consortium was partly owned by Shaik. Transport department spokesperson Sam Monareng downplayed suggestions that the department and Prodiba were headed for a court battle over the matter. “We hope it does not come to that,” said Monareng. “There are things we should be focusing on, like Arrive Alive … we hope to find an amicable solution.

We believe there is an opportunity to sit and talk, find reason and try to accommodate one another.”

With acknowledgement to Makhudu Sefara and City Press.