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The SAPS deals: Inside the Thoshan Panday indictment

The SAPS deals: Inside the Thoshan Panday indictment
Thoshan Panday. (File photo: The Witness / Wikipedia)

Is the final whistle near in the Fifa World Cup 2010 graft scandal in KwaZulu-Natal?

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is set to mount a massive offensive in the 2010 Fifa World Cup graft case against Umhlanga businessman Thoshan Panday, who was once a business partner of the Zuma family, and nine co-accused – the most notable being retired KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

The initial accused in the matter are a former KZN police colonel once based in SAPS provincial procurement, Navin Madhoe (51); Madhoe’s then subordinate, former captain Ashwin Narainpershad (52); Ngobeni (52); and Panday (48).

But in December, the Durban Magistrates’ Court heard that five additional accused would be added to the indictment, although they were not named then.

These are Panday’s mother, Arvenda Panday (69); Panday’s 45-year-old wife, Privisha Panday (née Summerjeeth); Panday’s brother-in-law, Seevesh Maharaj Ishwarkumar; Panday’s sister and wife to Seevesh, Kajal Ishwarkumar (37); and Panday’s then-assistant, Tasleem Rahimna (35).

The nine are accused of, during the period leading up to and shortly after the World Cup, having profited from illegally awarded contracts to the KwaZulu-Natal SAPS to the sum of approximately R60-million.

The Panday companies (some “owned” by his family members to disguise the fact that Panday was allegedly in control) had been contracted to provide temporary police accommodation and other services to SAPS for the World Cup period, which saw an increase in policing in the province for training and security for the global spectacle.

According to the state’s hefty indictment, the “corrupt enterprise” inflated prices on numerous occasions by between 200% and 400%, in one such instance buying generators for R4,000 and selling them to the SAPS for up to R94,000.

This is the state’s final chance to score in a matter that has been stalled for nearly a decade. A provisional pre-trial hearing date has been set for 8 February, but as the Panday family’s legal representative, Jimmy Howse SC, told DM168, no one was certain what would take place on that date because of the Covid-19 second-wave protocols.

Howse said that commenting on the indictment would be “premature” because he had not yet received a copy of the document, but added: “We are just trying to get our heads around the family being charged at this stage.”

Thoshan Panday, when contacted for comment, including on his family members being added to the indictment, laughed and told DM168: “With all due respect, we will leave it in a court of law.

“Daily Maverick does not write fairly on me, they are always biased. Have a good day, thank you my dear.”

Madhoe, Narainpershad, Ngobeni and Panday are all out on bail of varying amounts. They have denied the charges and indicated they intend to plead not guilty.

According to the indictment, the general gameplan for the looting required insider help, which resulted in Panday colluding with Madhoe and Narainpershad, who were both based in police procurement at the time. Ngobeni was the top officer in the province at this stage.

The indictment states that the cops were able to – for a fee – manipulate supply chain management (SCM) processes so that they would benefit Panday, his family members and their companies.

The case is linked to the since-debunked Cato Manor death squad exposé first run by the Sunday Times in December 2011. The paper, which has since apologised for those stories, claimed that the then head of the Directorate for Priority Crimes (Hawks) in KwaZulu-Natal, General Johan Booysen, knew that 27 officers belonging to the Cato Manor Organised Crime Unit and other units were part of a hit squad that took part in extrajudicial killings.

All of the men were suspended, dealing a severe blow to the Panday investigation. In 2019, all of those implicated in the death squad matter were finally cleared in court, although their lives had been severely and negatively affected by the ordeal. Some died without having seen their names cleared.

It would later be alleged that the story was fed to the paper by Panday and Madhoe after they had been nabbed for attempting to bribe Booysen to the tune of R1.42-million. The aim was to entice him to drop an investigation into Panday and his companies.

Prior to this incident, Ngobeni had ordered Booysen to drop the investigation – in the presence of Panday.

When the matter, despite the odds, was handed to then KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions Moipone Noko, it was withdrawn in 2014 because of a lack of evidence, even though the bribery attempt was caught on camera.

Noko’s decision was overturned in 2016 by then National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams.

Since then, Panday has tried to have Abrahams’s decision reversed, but in September 2020 the Pietermaritzburg High Court affirmed the then NDPP’s position, and delivered a scathing rebuke of Noko’s decision.

According to the indictment, Panday is facing 273 counts on charges that include racketeering, fraud and corruption, and money laundering.

Madhoe faces 266 counts, Narainpershad 255 counts and Ngobeni 123, whereas Panday’s mother, Arvenda, faces 121. Panday’s wife, Privisha; his brother-in-law, Seevesh Ishwarkumar; and sister, Kajal Ishwarkumar (née Panday), face 115 counts each. Panday’s then personal assistant, Rahimna Tasleem, is facing 247 counts.

As things tightened around Panday, he and his co-accused again appeared to change tactics, this time acting to defeat the ends of justice, committing forgery, according to the indictment, to “overcome this challenge and protect the enterprise and their revenue stream”.

Panday, a newly moneyed businessman with an obvious taste for shiny things, is claimed by the state to have been central to the criminal enterprise.

He is accused of contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act in eight instances, including conducting an enterprise by means of a pattern of racketeering, managing an enterprise, money laundering and possession of proceeds of unlawful activity.

Panday further stands accused of contravening the Prevention of Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca) at least six times, including conspiracy to commit or aiding and abetting another to commit a crime, offering to pay gratifications to public officers, and being involved in corrupt activities related to contracts. These charges involve Madhoe, Narainpershad and Ngobeni.

Over and above this, he faces 237 counts of fraud for his role in providing over-priced accommodation and other services for police across the province.

Panday faces further fraud charges for over-claiming and under-providing on contracts, and for being central to a cover quoting scam in which he used businesses “owned” by various members of his family, including his mother, to “bid” against each other, whereas Panday in effect controlled the companies.

According to the state, the bids were rigged by Madhoe and Narainpershad, creating the impression that the SAPS had acquired at least three quotes from different businesses before awarding contracts. In such cover quoting scams, the winning company and price are usually agreed upon beforehand by the players.

Furthermore, the indictment states that Panday faces charges for contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act, read with the Criminal Law Amendment Act, for being part of a conspiracy to commit forgery and fraud.

The indictment alleges that Madhoe, Narainpershad and Panday “actively associated themselves with the common purpose and worked together to manipulate the procurement process to ensure that the common goal of the orders/contracts being awarded to specific suppliers, being the business entities represented by [Panday] and his relatives and his assistant”.

“All the accused actively associated themselves with the common purpose and worked together to ensure their fraudulent conduct could continue by performing corrupt acts to prevent the investigation into the fraud and to obstruct and defeat the administration of justice, to ensure that the common goal of sharing in the proceeds of the orders/contracts being awarded.

“Lastly … the accused are guilty as the physical perpetrators, accomplices or accessories after the fact to the crimes,” reads the indictment.

Providing further detail of the state’s case, the indictment illustrates how from 2009 to 2012 Panday, Madhoe, Narainpershad and later Ngobeni allegedly shifted their modus operandi as they became more brazen, or as the environment around them shifted.

The first alleged rigged tender secured Panday’s Goldcoast Trading CC a R12.9-million contract to find and provide accommodation for police personnel for any police-related activity from September 2009 to July 2010, such as training and other operational activities. The trio then changed their modus operandi, with Panday enlisting his family as members of the corrupt enterprise, setting up a series of companies that appeared to be independent of each other.

“[This] created the false impression that these entities were competing against one another in a competitive process to ensure that the prices quoted were market-related when in fact they were not and prices were inflated significantly,” according to the indictment.

The cover quoting scam netted the Panday family 166 contracts related to the World Cup, to the value of R8,1-million.

The family is believed to have made millions from allegedly corrupt contracts and to have lived in luxury, whereas the known alleged kickbacks to Madhoe and Narainpershad amounted to R89,104 and R59,662 respectively. Using the corrupt relationships within the SAPS, Panday also secured a R39.3-million “emergency” contract which, in the main, was to provide accommodation for the SAPS in Durban during the World Cup. This contract was purposely delayed by Madhoe, according to the state, in order to create an emergency purchase and avoid the need to go out to tender. Panday was the eventual beneficiary.

Yet the indictment also states that the gameplan was dealt a “severe blow” in April/May 2010 when approximately R15-million (part of the R39-million contract), which was due to Panday’s Goldcoast Trading CC, was “frozen” by Brigadier Laurence Kemp, who was based in the financial services office, because of Booysen’s investigation.

Booysen would later tell the Zondo Commission that former president Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward, asked that Booysen release the funds to his business partner Panday.

As things tightened around Panday, he and his co-accused again appeared to change tactics, this time acting to defeat the ends of justice, committing forgery, according to the indictment, to “overcome this challenge and protect the enterprise and their revenue stream”.

According to the indictment, “[Ngobeni], who was the SAPS Provincial Commissioner of KZN at that stage, attempted to quash the investigation and protect the enterprise by instructing the provincial head of the DPCI [the “Hawks’], Major General Booysen and other investigators, not to pursue the investigation into the procurement fraud, on several different occasions”.

The state further contends that, when these attempts failed, Madhoe and Panday attempted to bribe Booysen.

The indictment claims that Panday was fully aware of the illegal enterprise, which is evident in the fact that he moved to shield his wife and mother from possible liability by removing them as directors from companies involved in the cover quoting. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.

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