Court to hear NPA’s leave to appeal Cholota’s extradition ruling

The Free State High Court in Bloemfontein is hearing the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) application for leave to appeal a ruling on former Premier Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota’s extradition.

Last week, the court ruled that Cholota’s extradition from the US last year was unlawful.

This is another chapter of legal battles in the high-profile R255 million asbestos corruption scandal.

Judge Phillip Loubser found that South African courts did not have jurisdiction to try Cholota on corruption that she and Magashule are charged with.

He said only the Justice Minister had the power to request an extradition order from the US government.

Judge Loubser said that an instructive judgment issued by the Supreme Court of Appeal only two months before the NPA requested the extradition should have guided the prosecuting authority on which direction to take.

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