Action launched to set aside Gordhan charges

Attorneys acting for Freedom Under Law (FUL) and the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) launched an urgent application yesterday to have the criminal charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan set aside. ‘This morning, attorneys acting for Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation served an urgent application to have the recent criminal charges against…Gordhan set aside,’ the organisations said in a joint statement yesterday. 'This is after we invited NDPP Shaun Abrahams to furnish us with more information about the charges, or to withdraw them voluntarily. He failed to do this, despite being given a week’s notice,’ the organisations said. A News24 report notes Abrahams announced recently that Gordhan, former deputy SARS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Pillay and former SARS Commissioner Oupa Magashula, would be charged with fraud relating to Pillay’s early retirement and the extension of his contract. They are due to appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on 2 November.