Cape Town - Money allegedly paid to a legal representative by underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack took centre stage in the Western Cape High Court yesterday amid legal battles between the State and defence teams.
After a three-day delay in proceedings, the State and defence advocate, Nazeer Parkar, went head-to-head amid claims of a conflict of interest as the State revealed that Parkar received R89 000 from a bank account allegedly used for money laundering.
Modack and 14 others are on trial on over 100 charges in the mammoth underworld trial centred on the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear.
After days of meetings in the chambers of Judge Robert Henney and with the private clients being represented by Parkar, the “ethical issue” was finally ventilated in open court at the request of Judge Henney.
Parkar is currently the only private lawyer defending three of Modack’s co-accused - Ziyaad Poole, Moegamat Toufeek “Bubbles" Brown and Adiel Mukadam.
Addressing the court, State prosecutor advocate Greg Wolmarans said that prior to the start of the trial, they alerted Parkar to payments found on the bank statements of Empire Investment Cars that went to his personal bank account.
Wolmarans revealed that a total of R89 000 was paid to Parkar from 2019 to 2021 from the bank account, which the State says was used to launder money obtained through extortion and to pay for illegal activities such as the pinging of Kinnear’s phone.
The payment references included “fees”, “loans” and “Hyundai”, with a total of seven payments recorded.
Wolmarans told the court that the State believed Parkar was compromised and would not be able to properly defend Mukadam if he was put in a position to cross examine Modack when he too received money from the bank account of the company.
The State believed that Parkar’s continuous representation of Mukadam would violate his rights to a fair trial if evidence presented against him was not adequately scrutinised.
Addressing Judge Henney, Parkar explained that he consulted with all his three clients on the payments and would not deny it.
He said his clients believed that he could defend them adequately without fear or favour.
Judge Henney questioned Poole, Mukadam and Brown, who all agreed they wanted to proceed with the trial, being represented by Parkar. Chuckles were heard when Brown was heard telling Judge Henney he would support Parkar so that he “could go to Makka”.
Cape Argus