News24 | Former top advocate and Limpopo Safety MEC Seth Nthai pleads guilty to corruption

Disbarred advocate and former Limpopo safety MEC Seth Nthai has pleaded guilty to corruption.

• Corruption-accused disbarred advocate and former Limpopo Safety MEC Seth Nthai has pleaded guilty to his crimes.
• In 2009, Nthai tried to solicit a R5 million bribe from Italian businessman Mario Marcenaro.
• He was subsequently charged with three counts of corruption and on Wednesday pleaded guilty to one.

Disbarred advocate and former Limpopo safety MEC Seth Nthai has pleaded guilty to corruption.

In 2009, Nthai attempted to solicit a R5 million bribe from Italian businessman Mario Marcenaro.

Nthai was acting for the South African government in a mining rights dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague at the time, and the bribe was meant to be in exchange for him using his influence to push through a settlement.

His name was removed from the roll of advocates in 2013, and he was criminally charged with three counts of corruption in 2022.

Nthai pleaded not guilty before Judge Dario Dosio in October last year, but Dosio then recused himself.

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On Wednesday, Nthai made a new deal with the State, pleading guilty to one count and receiving a fine of R500 000 - or two years behind bars - in exchange.

The fine is to be paid in monthly instalments of R50 000 each, with the first due immediately.

Nthai was also sentenced to five years in prison, which was, however, wholly suspended for three years.

He was discharged for the remaining two counts against him.

The dispute at The Hague involved a total of 11 Italian companies with vested interests in two entities which were registered in South Africa and centred on a new mining law that provided for the lapsing of registered mineral rights and the vesting thereof in the State.

Nthai’s initial not guilty plea came despite his having admitted to his crime in previous litigation.

He has now officially pleaded guilty to having “unlawfully and intentionally directly offered to accept” R5 million from Marcenaro “and/or his associates,” though.

He has further admitted to having disclosed to Marcernaro “the merits of the client’s case, defences, technical strategies, possible settlement and possible reward if the case was settled in favour of Marcenaro and or the other claimants” and that “in exchange for the R5 million gratification he offered to accept from [Marcenaro] he would use his influence to get the government of the Republic of South Africa to agree to settle the matter with each party paying its own costs”.

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The plea and sentence agreement set out how on 9 October 2009, Nthai accepted a request for a meeting with Marcenaro, arranged by attorney Maurisio Mariano. This knowing - or at least suspecting - that Marcenaro “wanted to discuss the said international arbitration, particularly the issue of costs”.

“At the time, the Italian companies wanted to withdraw from the arbitration proceedings, but could only do so with the consent of the South African government in terms of the rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The payment of costs became the main and contentious issue between the parties,” the agreement explained.

The meeting took place the following day at the offices of Mariano’s firm, Biccari Bollo Mariano Attorneys, in Rosebank.

“At the meeting, [Marcenaro] mentioned that some of the claimants were convinced that it was not necessary to continue with the case as they did not want to antagonise the government further. The next thing he asked [Nthai] was what could be the best way to have the matter settled without involving lawyers,” continued the agreement.

It went on that Nthai had explained this would be difficult and Marcenaro then asked him if he was prepared` “to help have the matter settled”.

It continued:

“[Nthai] further told him that he had prepared the proposal for settlement and if the claimants agreed to pay the said amount he would get the government to accept the settlement proposal. At that stage [Nthai] told Marcenaro that he should understand that he stood to make millions of rands in fees if the proceedings were not discontinued.”

The agreement further laid out how Nthai had “cautioned [Marcenaro] strongly against disclosing the discussion to third parties”.

“[Nthai] then proceeded to disclose the terms of withdrawal and requested him to write the terms of withdrawal,” it added.

When it came to sentencing, the agreement identified the fact that Nthai’s conduct had brought the legal profession into disrepute as an aggravating factor.

It also stressed that he had “betrayed the trust placed upon him by the government in [a] matter of significant importance, involving transformative legislation in line with the Constitution”.

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On the flip side, though, the agreement highlighted that Nthai’s legal team had approached the prosecution and that he suffered from a heart condition, as well depression, and was disabled, having had his left arm amputated when he was a child.

He was also a first-time offender, it continued, and incarceration would be “extremely difficult” for Nthai, being in his sixties.

He had further already been “severely” punished by being disbarred and shown remorse in the form of an apology tendered to the State Attorney as well as the government in 2010.

“[Nthai] has made significant contributions in the community and development of the law. He is a prolific writer who has written books and articles published by legal journals. At some stage he was the author of monthly columns published in the De Rebus. Some of his articles were relied upon by other authors and courts. He has written several newspaper articles on wide ranging tops and delivered papers in both domestic and international conferences/seminars,” the agreement concluded.

Nthai declined to comment following proceedings.