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Carrim receives bail · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: 702 Drive, it's 22 minutes past three. Very important matter
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  Speaker 2: in the Pretoria Magistrates Court today involving the Northwest businessman,
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  Speaker 2: Suleiman Karim. He has eventually been granted 100,000 rand. bail, very,
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  Speaker 2: very strict conditions on this in regards to moving out
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  Speaker 2: of the Mahikeng area, which is where he lives, issues
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  Speaker 2: around his passport and other matters. All of this linked
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  Speaker 2: to his failure to appear at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
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  Speaker 2: Let's find out then what was said in the court. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: the decision only tells us part of the story. Humotso Modise,
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  Speaker 2: EWN reporter, was keeping an eye on this one. Humotso,
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  Speaker 2: very good afternoon to you. We know the outcome of
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  Speaker 2: the hearing, but what in the actual conversation and the
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  Speaker 2: back and forth struck you as interesting and possibly important as,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the matter eventually returns to the courts? And
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if Mr. Karim will be going to
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  Speaker 2: Madlanga as well.
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  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, John. Well, I think what was really interesting
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  Speaker 1: for me and what I was looking forward to hearing
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  Speaker 1: about today in court is how the court would be
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  Speaker 1: able to address the fact that Kareem's bail application was
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  Speaker 1: being addressed as a Schedule 1 offence. And it was
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  Speaker 1: clear from the arguments that were made during the bail application, John,
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  Speaker 1: that the state was insisting that they had managed to
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  Speaker 1: prove exceptional circumstances as to why Suleiman Kareem should not
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  Speaker 1: be released on bail. And of course, his lawyer's you know,
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  Speaker 1: had denied this, saying that there were no exceptional circumstances
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  Speaker 1: for this. And so the onus was very clearly on
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  Speaker 1: the state to prove this. Now, the court has found
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  Speaker 1: that the state did not prove exceptional circumstances for his
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  Speaker 1: release on bail. That's the first part. But the second
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  Speaker 1: part also is the fact that the court has found
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  Speaker 1: that it would not be in the interest of justice
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  Speaker 1: to keep Suleiman Karim behind bars And in fact, it
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  Speaker 1: would be in the interest of justice for him to
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  Speaker 1: be released, however, with stringent bail conditions. And really where
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  Speaker 1: the idea of having tighter bail conditions comes from is
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  Speaker 1: the fact that the state had raised fears and concerns
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  Speaker 1: about Karim being released on bail based on the fact
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  Speaker 1: that he'd failed to appear at the Malanga Commission, as
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  Speaker 1: well as they flagged how they believed that he was
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  Speaker 1: a candidate that was likely to commit another offense. And
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  Speaker 1: so it was interesting to hear how the court would
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  Speaker 1: be able to address that. And what the court has done, John,
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  Speaker 1: is that it's proposed these stringent bail conditions to address
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  Speaker 1: the potential of what the state had been arguing. And
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  Speaker 1: we heard Magistrates Mark Curlewis today saying that there is
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  Speaker 1: no evidence that Suleiman Karim will not abide by these
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  Speaker 1: bail conditions that have been set by the court. And
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  Speaker 1: so as a result, he's been released on bail or
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  Speaker 1: granted bail, rather, in this matter for 100,000 rand.
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  Speaker 2: Do we know anything about when he would then appear
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  Speaker 2: before the Midlanga Commission or was that train left the station?
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  Speaker 2: I must admit, I haven't followed it closely enough. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: has the commission now given up on actually ever having
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  Speaker 2: him appear?
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  Speaker 1: Well, the train hasn't left the station. The commission had
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  Speaker 1: never at one point said that it had given up
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  Speaker 1: and wouldn't want Suleiman Karim's testimony at all. But what
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  Speaker 1: I found to be interesting from the bail conditions handed
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  Speaker 1: down today is that it seems to me that the
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  Speaker 1: court feels that Suleiman Karim can appear before the commission.
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  Speaker 1: And it's in the bail condition, bail condition number 12,
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  Speaker 1: which says that In the next 48 hours or 48
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  Speaker 1: hours from the time that he's released on bail, he
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  Speaker 1: should then approach the Malanga Commission, get in touch with
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  Speaker 1: them and organize a date for his appearance. That says
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  Speaker 1: to me that the court is saying that Suleiman Karim
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  Speaker 1: not only should appear before the commission, but can appear
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  Speaker 1: before the commission. And that's the next step now. He
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  Speaker 1: must get in touch with the secretary of the commission.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, the commission is on a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: break for now. But his lawyers can get in touch
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  Speaker 1: with the secretary for them to organize a date for
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  Speaker 1: his appearance.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Humotso Mudise. Very, very interesting morning
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  Speaker 2: in court. Listen to bits and pieces of it, but
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  Speaker 2: good to have Humotso give us that comprehensive update. 26
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  Speaker 2: minutes past three.