Agrizzi to appeal R1.6 billion confiscation order

Former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi is challenging a R1.66 billion confiscation order, arguing that the amount represents government contracts awarded to the company and not money he personally received.

Agrizzi announced his intention to apply for leave to appeal in a media statement issued on Monday, November 2, following a judgment delivered by Judge Mosopa on October 29 at the Pretoria High Court.

He said he respected the court’s judgment but believed the confiscation order went far beyond the money he personally benefited from.

“I do not dispute my conviction. I pleaded guilty, and I gave evidence before the Zondo Commission. The appeal concerns one question: how much money I actually received,” he said.

The R1,666,582,825.73 confiscation order relates to contracts awarded to Bosasa by the Department of Correctional Services.

Agrizzi argued that the money was paid to Bosasa and not to him, as he was an employee and the company’s chief operating officer, rather than a director or shareholder.

He said the State’s own heads of argument described the amount as the value of contracts awarded to the company.

According to Agrizzi, the State’s figures show that the order is significantly higher than the value of the offences for which he was convicted, which he put at R1,433,386.85.

He also said the State had placed the known value of his criminal activities at R26,751,796.47, while his entire realisable property, as determined by the curator, was valued at R7,118,000.

Agrizzi argued that the Prevention of Organised Crime Act limits confiscation orders to the value of a defendant’s own proceeds of crime.

He further disputed allegations that he concealed property and assets, saying the State had been aware of his Italian property because it had previously been held as security for his bail.

He said the high court ordered on August 7, 2024, that the property be replaced by R1.5 million held for the benefit of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.

Agrizzi also raised concerns about separate claims against him by the liquidators of the Bosasa group and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), saying the combined claims and confiscation order exceeded his entire estate more than a hundredfold.

The former Bosasa executive, who became a key witness at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, also accused authorities of failing to act on evidence he had provided against other people implicated in corruption involving the company.

He said he had entered into a plea and sentence agreement in November 2025, based on his full cooperation with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption.

Under the agreement, his prison sentence was suspended on condition that he continued assisting the State in prosecuting others.

Agrizzi said he had prepared detailed evidence for investigators and had also testified in the prosecution of other people.

However, he claimed that despite years of correspondence with the Justice Ministry, the Investigating Directorate and the National Director of Public Prosecutions, there had been little or no progress in acting on recommendations made by the Zondo Commission.

He further alleged that he had recently been informed that evidence he had handed over to investigators had been damaged.

“Almost eight years after I first gave evidence before the commission, the most senior politically connected people it identified have not been charged,” he said.

Agrizzi described himself as a whistleblower who had become a scapegoat, arguing that he was being held accountable for money paid to a company he did not own while others implicated in the Bosasa scandal had not faced prosecution.

He maintained that he supported the recovery of the proceeds of crime but wanted the confiscation order to reflect what he personally received.

“I ask only that a confiscation order reflect what I actually received, as the law requires,” he said.

Agrizzi said he would not comment further on the evidence because the matter was before the courts and he remained a witness in pending proceedings.