Post by @justadvocacy1

Two employees of North West businessman Suliman Carrim stood before the Musina Magistrates’ Court in Limpopo today, accused of attempted theft of motor vehicles, fraud and uttering. Zakes Ibrahim and Musa Phiri, both Malawian nationals, were arrested on the twenty-second of July at the Beitbridge border post while allegedly attempting to cross into Zimbabwe with two vehicles belonging to Absa, cars still under finance, using fraudulent bank authorisation documents. The vehicles were reportedly destined for Malawi, having travelled from Mahikeng in the North West. The pair had been expected to enter pleas today. Instead, by agreement between the state and the defence, the matter was postponed to Friday the thirtieth of October, the same day Suliman Carrim is due back in the Musina dock on the identical charges. Carrim was added as an accused in the two existing cases by the Commission’s Recommendations Task Team, the body established after the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system. Prosecutors allege he colluded with his employees in the attempted cross-border theft. Carrim will appear separately from his employees on Friday, and his legal team has indicated it will move for his bail application to be heard immediately. He has been in custody at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria since the fifteenth of October, when he was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport moments before boarding an international flight, a flight to the United Arab Emirates, after failing to appear before the Madlanga Commission despite being subpoenaed. His bail judgment in that separate contempt matter is reserved for tomorrow, Wednesday the twenty-eighth. So the coming week carries two court dates in two provinces: Pretoria on Wednesday for the commission’s non-appearance charge, and Musina on Friday for the vehicle smuggling case, where Carrim and his two employees may finally stand together in the same dock. The Absa vehicles have since been returned to the bank. But the questions remain, how fraudulent documents were arranged, who authorised the movement, and whether the businessman at the centre of a national commission of inquiry used his employees as the front line of an alleged smuggling operation. The state says the evidence points to collusion. Carrim’s defence will have its say on Friday. Justice for the system that was meant to protect the public begins with accountability for those who allegedly abused it. Follow the case. Share the names. Demand the truth. #SulimanCarrim #MadlangaCommission #BeitbridgeBorderPost #AbsaVehicles #JusticeForAll