Two men believed to be part of those who helped loot R2bn from Tembisa Hospital claim that they do not have money to pay for bail.
Zacharia Chisele and a Hawks officer, Sgt Papi Tsie, appeared at the Pretoria magistrate’s court on corruption charges for a formal bail application linked to the Tembisa hospital looting scandal.
WATCH | Hawks officer Sergeant Papi Tsie and Tembisa Hospital official Zacharia Chisele appeared before the Pretoria magistrate’s court for a formal bail application on charges of corruption linked to the Tembisa Hospital scandal.
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Both Chisele and Tsie told the court they do not have any money to put down as an offer of a bail amount. They stated this despite the fact that the state had not proposed any amount for bail yet.
Chisele, an operations manager at Tembisa Hospital, was crying as he stood in the dock.
The two were arrested after meeting with the Hawks investigator on November 23 to allegedly offer a bribe.
At the time, Chisele was already under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for receiving unlawful payments from various service providers at the hospital between January 2020 and September 2023.
The SIU has since recovered R13.5m from him, which is a portion of the total amount involved in the larger hospital corruption probe.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, the investigating officer who was offered a bribe was investigating ongoing corruption at the Tembisa hospital.
“During the meeting, it is alleged that the two gave the Hawks official a gratification of R100,000 for Chisele to avoid prosecution in an ongoing investigation,” Mahanjana said.
Sowetan
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