Cape Town - The multimillion-rand moneyweb of alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack has started to unravel in the Western Cape High Court, as the Hawks poke holes in the story of his alleged money man.
Captain Edward du Plessis returned to the witness stand yesterday, where he appeared unperturbed about the presentation of alleged invoices between Modack and his co-accused, Ricardo Morgan.
This follows the adjournment of court proceedings by Judge Robert Henney last week in order for Morgan to produce invoices which could allegedly exonerate him in the mammoth underworld trial centred on the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear.
Morgan is at the centre of multimillion-rand transactions linked to the Empire Investments bank account, which the State contends was used by Modack and his co-accused to launder money gained through extortion and used to pay for the pinging services of Zane Kilian.
Morgan’s lawyer, Scanlyn Collins, put his client’s version of events to Du Plessis, saying Morgan hired cars owned by Modack to private clients and would make payments to the Empire Investments account.
Collins further explained Morgan had gone into business with Modack during the Covid-19 pandemic to sell personal protection equipment.
The introduction of the invoices caused a stir when Du Plessis accused Morgan of fabricating the invoice over the weekend to align with evidence presented by the Hawks.
Du Plessis questioned the validity of the invoices, showing they were not in line with SA Revenue Service (Sars) requirements. They also provided no details of the service or products being invoiced for and had no VAT registration number. Collins, however, said Morgan was not VAT registered.
He told Judge Henney he did not believe Morgan’s claims, saying: “So everyone is just distancing themselves from the Empire account but they have all confirmed that it was used by accused 1 (Modack).”
The trial has been postponed to Monday.
Cape Argus