The legal battle between Kubentheran Moodley – the former adviser of then Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane – and the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture was referred to another judge to allow both parties to submit additional court documents. A Cape Argus report says the two parties came to the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) yesterday with two separate applications. Moodley – described in some circles as a ‘Gupta fixer’ – wanted the court to interdict the commission from gaining access to documentation that he had stored in a storage facility in Sandton. Among the many accusations against Moodley was that he allegedly helped Trillian Capital loot Eskom, helped the Guptas with R10m to buy Optimum Mine and allegedly had a hand in the looting of the government of North West by Mediosa. The commission’s legal representative came to court with the intent to file a formal search and seizure application in the same court. During their brief appearance, the court heard that the commission’s legal team had not provided Moodley with details of their court application in order to allow him to oppose it. In his application, Moodley is asking the High Court to deny the commission access to his documentation.

While Moodley’s papers are known, the commission’s reasons for their search and seizure application were not made public in court, apparently to protect the identities of individuals who have yet to appear before it, notes the Cape Argus report. To resolve the impasse between the parties, both were summoned to the judge’s chambers, where a decision was taken to refer the matter to another judge. The report says that according to insiders close to the applications, both parties were ordered to submit replying affidavits to each other’s applications. They have until 25 July to submit their applications, before the hearing on 30 July. However, it is believed that the commission’s legal representatives want their application to be heard in the judge’s chambers to avoid revealing in an open court details of pending matters to be heard before Justice Raymond Zondo.