Musli sticks to rigid bail conditions

ANT KATZ:

Musli, who has had his case remanded three times before, had arrived at court in November under unusually heavy police protection after police received a “credible tip-off” that there may have been a mob-plot to spring him. SAJR went to the top to find out what had changed.

SA Jewish Report Online spoke to Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo this week. Naidoo is the top cop when it comes to communications, holding the position of Section Head : Media Communication, Corporate Communication at the South African Police Service.

Naidoo confirmed that it is generally against normal procedure to release prisoners awaiting extradition hearings on bail, However, he said, “each case is dealt with on its own merits”.

Naidoo confirmed that SAPS had laid on special extra security at an earlier due to concerns that accomplices may try to spring him. “At that time there were certain threats considered,” he said.

Naidoo told SAJR that bail is “granted as a means to secure the attendance of an accused in court. A decision was taken that there was no real need to keep the accused in custody.” He did not, however, offer any motivation for the change.

The terms of Musli’s bail require him to report at “a particular police station” every day between 07:00 and 19:00, said Naidoo.” He was ordered not to leave Gauteng Province without the knowledge of the investigating officer.

Musli had met the conditions, added Naidoo, and was reporting every day at the police station.

Israeli security officials have for years been hunting around the world for Musli. However, he has allegedly been hiding out in SA since 2012 – lying low and moving often. He is alleged to head one of Israel’s most feared crime families, a family claimed to have waged a reign of terror in Tel Aviv and using their connections to the global criminal underworld, including South Africa’s, to remove rivals and expand their empire.