Popular South African based, Malawian Prophet, Shepherd Bushiri and his co-accused will spend another two nights in jail before they can know if bail will be granted.
The Magistrate will make the bail ruling on Wednesday, 4 November 2020.
The state and Bushiri’s lawyers presented their final arguments this morning.
The state lawyers told the magistrate that the accused are not good candidates for bail because the complainants in the case are members of the ECG church, where the accused have a lot of influence.
The state explained that they had not opposed bail in a previous cases because they believed that Bushiri had PR status, and had fixed addresses.
The state said further investigations have revealed that the accused entered SA with falsified exemption permits and there were issues with medical forms Bushiri and his wife submitted during their application.
The state also stated that Bushiri and his co-accused have moved or sold properties and assets.
The state presented a list that showed Bushiri moved cars to Malawi.
Further charges were reportedly added against Bushiri relating to violation of the Reserve Bank act, uttering, money laundering and fraud in his previous cases.
In response, the defense attorney said Bushiri has obtained an interdict to prevent Home Affairs from withdrawing his permanent residence and he is therefore a permanent resident in the country.
She said Bushiri and his family have Businesses in South Africa and have fixed addresses.
She said the state have not provided evidence of any of their allegations and Bushiri and his wife are good candidates for bail as their past conduct shows that they have complied with their bail conditions.
