North West businessman Suleiman Carrim has launched an urgent High Court application to stop the Madlanga commission from compelling his testimony. The ANC member is set to take the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System to court on Tuesday in an urgent bid to prevent the commission from subpoenaing him to appear before it. Carrim was implicated in testimony before the Madlanga commission by “Witness X”, alleged crime boss Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Brown Mogotsi.
The businessman, in papers filed before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, is asking the court to immediately stop the commission from forcing him to submit a written statement or appear before it until the lawfulness of the commission’s action is reviewed. Carrim wants the court to stop the commission from compelling him to cooperate for now. He asks the court to interdict the Madlanga commission from “issuing a notice calling upon the applicant to file a written statement or subpoenaing the applicant or coercing him in any way to appear before the commission”.
This protection would apply until Part B of his bid is decided, or until the commission complies with its own rules. He wants the high court to order the commission to properly answer his lawyers’ letters before taking any further steps. Carrim also wants the commission ordered to “fully and properly respond to the letters sent by the applicant’s legal team” within three days, before compelling him to testify.
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The businessman says in the papers that the commission acted unlawfully and unfairly in issuing a notice against him; it failed to properly respond to his lawyers’ questions. He added that the commission wants to compel him to testify before he has been given a fair chance to challenge the evidence against him. Matlala told the commission that Carrim had someone close to Police Minister Senzo Mchunuand involved him in trying to address a halted R360 million health risk management contract.
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