Former Free State Premier Ace Magashule appeared in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on April 15, 2024. The suspects are charged with fraud, corruption, money laundering and breaches of the Public Finance Management Act in connection with a R255 million asbestos case. (Garo Images/Volksblad/Mlungisi Row)
During Mr Ace Magashule's final days as Free State Premier, one of his sons and a cousin of a PA accused of corruption was inexplicably given a number by the Free State government to study at a US university. A draft forensic report revealed that he had been awarded a million rand stipend.
And let's downplay suggestions that former Magashule governor Molodi Cholota improperly solicited funding from an alleged asbestos fraud service provider in the state, as revealed in a state capture investigation in December 2019. A few days later, the report records that she herself paid R1.2 million. Her scholarship to study in the United States was approved by the Free State Government.
The report was compiled by FTI Consulting for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and is among several documents submitted by the NPA to the US government as part of an attempt to extradite Cholota to South Africa to face trial on fraud charges. It was one of the Corruption in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein.
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