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Senior SA Lawmaker Reportedly Files Urgent Bid to Avoid Arrest on Corruption Charges

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The speaker of the lower chamber of the South African parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, has filed an urgent request to block her arrest on corruption charges, claiming that law enforcement authorities have "no case" against her, South African media reported on Friday.
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Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of soliciting and receiving 10 cash payments totaling more than 2.3 million South African rand ($121,000) between 2016 and 2019, when she served as the country's defense minister, the local media reported.
On Tuesday, law enforcement agents reportedly searched her home. In light of the ongoing investigation, the lawmaker decided to take special leave, media said.
In the application filed to a high court in Pretoria, Mapisa-Nqakula demanded that the authorities investigating her case grant her access to the evidence used as the basis for the search and seizure of her possessions, claiming she had not given them permission to enter her house, the report said.
The chief of South Africa's lower house also rejected all charges and demanded that investigators meet with her lawyer, media reported.
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In 2021, a probe was launched into Mapisa-Nqakula in connection with the same charges but was later dropped due to non-cooperation from the whistleblower, the report said.