Agrizzi to inform NPA probes in deal to duck jail

Former Bosasa chief operating officer-turned-whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi has cut a deal with the state to avoid incarceration for being part of a corrupt syndicate that bribed officials, including ministers.

- Ciaran Ryan

In return, he will have to provide honest testimony to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Agrizzi - now in poor health and on an oxygen machine most of the time initially offered to assist the state back in 2019, but that offer was spurned.

Agrizzi approached the commission after his approaches to numerous law enforcement officials and parliamentarians fell on deaf ears. The plea and sentence agreement with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) sentenced Agrizzi to 10 years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on various conditions, including that he commits no further offences.

Agrizzi pleaded guilty to three counts of corruption and one of money laundering.

He will be required to provide “continued and truthful cooperation” to assist the NPA in its “ongoing investigations and future prosecutions against other high-level individuals implicated in the Bosasa corruption network”, said Idac.