BBC Monitoring Service
May 21, 2002

Published by South African news agency SAPA web site on 21 May

The former chief executive of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, Masupha Sole, convicted in the multi-million rand bribery trial linked to the massive Lesotho Highlands Water Project, has been remanded in custody at a Maseru Hospital.

Judge Brandon Cullinan remanded him until Thursday with the recommendation that he be detained at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru for treatment of spine injuries.

The court recommended that the medical superintendent of the hospital should consider taking Sole to Bloemfontein under escort for further examination of his injured spine with a scan, as that facility was not available in Lesotho.

The defence would be given an opportunity on Thursday to plead in mitigation before the court imposed sentence on the 13 counts on which Sole was found guilty.