The absence of invoices that was set to exonerate the “money man” of alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, has stalled the mammoth trial.
Ricardo Morgan came under fire from Judge Robert Henney at the Western Cape High Court yesterday, who slammed him for failing to provide the evidence to his legal representative, resulting in the cross-examination being hampered.
Morgan is at the centre of multi-million rand transactions via the Empire Investments bank account, which the state contends was used by Modack and his co-accused to launder money gained through extortion, and used to pay for the pinging services of Zane Killian.
The childhood friend of Modack was busted several years ago after allegedly trying to dodge Hawks officers as they scrutinised bank accounts linked to Empire Investments.
Morgan was granted R50 000 bail at the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court and is currently facing charges of money laundering.
During earlier hearings, payments made from Kilian to Morgan using vulgar bank references such as ‘Holn*****s’ and ‘stuk****’ came under scrutiny by Henney who remarked that legitimate businessmen would not use such language when making financial transactions.
Morgan’s lawyer, Scanlyn Collins, told the court that several years ago his client became reacquainted with Modack and the duo went into business to buy and resell high-end vehicles.
Bank statements provided by Hawks detective Captain Edward Du Plessis showed that Morgan transferred over R2.8 million into the Empire Investments bank account using various car references.
Du Plessis questioned the validity of Morgan’s claims, saying since he was busted in 2021, he never produced the invoices that could prove that there may have been legitimate business transactions.
He also revealed that when questioned by the Hawks, Morgan lied and denied knowing Modack, but Collins told the court Morgan was bang and feared for his life.
After holding up proceedings twice yesterday to allow Collins to discuss the invoices with Morgan, a fed-up Henney finally postponed the trial to next week, saying if the evidence could exonerate him it needed to be brought to court.
Henney warned: “I am not happy. You are out on bail and this is causing delays. This is not a petty case.”
Meanwhile, another co-accused in the money laundering charges, Mogamat Adiel Mukadam, has piemped Modack as being the person who handled the money.
Addressing the court, his lawyer, Nazeer Parkar, said his client admitted to opening an Absa account which received funds from the Empire Investments account after taking over the directorship from Modack’s brother, Yaseen.
Parkar said Mukadam was told by Modack that he would receive incentives, but that he denied making any transactions on the account and handed the card directly to Modack.
This version was corroborated by Du Plessis earlier in the trial, when he revealed that the Absa bank card was found in Modack’s vehicle on the day he was arrested.