Opposition to a forensic report on the recordings made of local lawyer Dirk Conradie and his long-time friend Sara Damases caused a further delay in their long-running trial in the Windhoek High Court. Judge Thomas Masuku The trial has already seen several postponements due to applications by Conradie to have some of the charges quashed and to have recordings made by Mark Bongers and Kim Fields – the owners of advertising company DV8 Saatchi and Saatchi - during a meeting they had with Conradie and Damases declared inadmissible as evidence.

This time around, the defence is objecting to the admission of a report compiled by late forensic scientist Paul Ludik on the recordings Bongers made. They claim that since Ludik is not able to confirm the findings in his report in person, it cannot be admitted as evidence in the trial. Yesterday, advocate Ed Marondedze on behalf of the prosecution indicated that he will apply for the report to be handed in as the recordings were already played in court and forms part of the record.

According to him, it is trite evidence that Ludik was the person who conducted the analysis on the recordings and recorded his findings in the disputed report. He further said that the accused never disputed the recordings which show that it was authentic and the report is just to confirm it. The opposition, however, led by South African senior advocate Vas Soni, on behalf of Conradie, objected to the admission of the report claiming it will amount to hearsay since Ludik cannot confirm the findings he made. Vetu Uanivi, on behalf of Damases, also opposed the admission of the report, saying he agrees with Soni. This will now lead to a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of the report and Marondedze asked for a remand to have a witness subpoenaed and prepared. Soni and Uanivi did not have any objections to the postponement. Judge Masuku remanded the matter to 10 November for a status hearing.

Conradie and Damases face three counts of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act for allegedly attempting to bribe Bongers and his wife and business partner Fields with the massive advertising contract from MTC if they took Damases on board as a black economic empowerment (BEE) partner. Bongers made a recording of a meeting he and Fields had with Conradie and Damases in the office of Conradie on 12 June 2012 and subsequently reported the alleged bribe to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). In the recordings, Conradie can be heard asking Bongers and Fields, whether they have a BEE partner and when Bongers answered in the negative, Conradie said that he can provide them with one. Conradie allegedly told Bongers during the meeting that he will use his position as chair of the MTC board to ensure that the advertising agency owned by Bongers and Fields gets the telecommunication giant’s N$60 million advertising tender in turn for them taking Damases on board as a BEE equity in their company. They were arrested in June 2012 after Bongers and Fields allegedly revealed a tape recording of Conradie, allegedly soliciting a bribe from them, to the ACC. Conradie and Damases are free on bail.