Defence loses patience as case postponed again

Crucial documents seized from alleged gang boss Shaun Ah Shene amid tax fraud investigations have gone missing and, with allegations of a defective search warrant, his lawyers want the matter withdrawn before it goes to trial.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), meanwhile, is still mulling over the request and asked for yet another postponement yesterday before a decision could be made on a way forward.

The realisation of a further delay irked the defence in court yesterday, with Advocate Paul Jorgensen demanding finality in one way or another.

A decision on a way forward will now be made on July 3.

Ah Shene, 51, looked sullen as he took to the dock in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court yesterday, just days after his son and brother were wounded in a shooting in Port Elizabeth’s gang-ridden northern areas at the weekend.

He is accused of defrauding the South African Revenue Service out of about R2.1-million by under-declaring his income to the taxman between July 2003 and March 2009. Ah Shene, together with his business, Coral Blue Trading CC, faces eight counts of fraud spanning a period of six years.

Just last year, Ah Shene and his wife, Virginia, were acquitted in the Port Elizabeth Regional Court of the possession of stolen property and money laundering after it was found the warrant used by police to search the couple’s Adcockvale home in 2008 was defective.

All evidence obtained thereafter was accordingly found by the court to be inadmissible.

Yesterday, Jorgensen argued that in light of the regional court’s findings, it was unlikely that the state would once again try to rely on the documents seized during that raid to prove their case against Ah Shene.

In addition, Jorgensen said, a significant number of documents had since been lost, rendering Ah Shene unable to prepare for his defence.

“Comprehensive representations were made to the DPP [– and we are still awaiting an answer],” Jorgensen argued.

“The accused is entitled to move on with his life, with this case moving forward in one way or another.

“All the state is doing is dragging out a [lawsuit] for malicious prosecution. The state may very well say at the end of all of this that they withdraw the case.”

However, Jorgensen said, if the state’s aim was to nonetheless continue with the matter, the defence would be forced to bring an application for a permanent stay of prosecution in the high court.

In February last year, the DPP had provisionally withdrawn the charges against Ah Shene.

However, the case was placed back on the roll just five months later.