ANC ward councillor Bongo Nombiba off the hook - for now
Convicted Nelson Mandela Bay ANC ward councillor Bongo Nombiba is off the hook for now after the warrant for his arrest, issued earlier this week, was withdrawn.
Commercial Crimes Court prosecutor Wilhelm de Villiers on Thursday said the warrant had been withdrawn after it emerged that Nombiba had, in fact, submitted court papers petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeals to appeal his fraud sentence.
“Nombiba will not be arrested. He filed his documents and the warrant has been withdrawn,” de Villiers said.
De Villiers said Nombiba had filed the court papers at the Grahamstown High Court on September 7.
“He was supposed to file in the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein and Bloemfontein only received his documents on Tuesday the 11th.
“In light of the fact that there was a partial filing made on September 7, as per his bail conditions, it was decided to withdraw the warrant,” de Villiers said.
Ward 20 councillor Nombiba was arrested in December 2016 and convicted of fraud and money laundering in April.
The court found that Nombiba had duped non-governmental organisations members into handing over R20 000 of a R30 000 donation he had helped secure.
Nombiba had already started serving his five year sentence at St Albans in April, but was granted bail later pending his application for leave to appeal his sentence and conviction.
The petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal comes after two failed attempts to appeal his conviction and sentence at the PE Commercial Crimes Court and in the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown).
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