Scorpions investigator Ivor Powell appeared briefly in the Cape Town
magistrate's court on Tuesday for a postponement of his drunk driving case.
Prosecutor Gail October said the investigation had been completed, but that she
was referring the docket to the provincial director of
public prosecutions (DPP) for a decision on whether to proceed with the case *1.
Magistrate Den Ngoqo postponed the case to June 9, and extended Powell's R1 000
bail.
He also ordered the state to hand over further particulars that the defence had
asked for in February, within seven days.
He told Powell's attorney Leon van der Merwe that if this did not happen, Van
der Merwe should have the case put on the roll for an
application to dismiss the charges.
Van der Merwe told journalists after the hearing that the state's move to refer
the docket to the DPP was "not a standard thing".
He said Powell's blood alcohol level had been very low.
He also said he understood that the state had already
decided to drop one of the three charges Powell faced, that of defeating
the ends of justice.
The other two were drunken driving, and reckless and negligent driving.
Powell was in a vehicle on official Scorpions business, allegedly in the company
of a Cape gang boss, at the time of his arrest in Woodstock in January this
year.
His lawyer said at the time that police had been under the impression it was a
stolen car.
Powell was named last year as the final author of the Scorpions' Browse Mole
Report, a leaked intelligence document.
According to Parliament's standing committee on intelligence, the document was
"extremely inciteful and provocative".
It said the document claimed African National Congress president Jacob Zuma was
involved in a conspiracy which was a threat South Africa's sovereignty. - Sapa