Cop, businessman in court over 'R60m graft'

Cop, businessman in court over 'R60m graft'
CANAAN MDLETSHE |
27 September, 2011 00:27

File photo.
The Durban businessman accused of trying to bribe KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Major-General Johan Booysen to backdate a crucial document in a R60-million corruption case made his first court appearance yesterday.
Toshan Panday and policeman Colonel Navin Madhoe have been charged with corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

Panday was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport shortly after his arrival from Lusaka, Zambia, on Saturday in connection with an alleged attempt to pay a R2-million bribe to Booysen.

Madhoe, who headed the police's provincial supply chain management office, was arrested during a sting operation on September 8 after allegedly dropping a suitcase containing more than R1.3-million in cash into Booysen's car.

Panday has been under investigation for allegedly colluding with top policemen to inflate by up to 400% police bills at hotels and bed-and-breakfast establishments during the World Cup. Madhoe allegedly rigged procurement processes to ensure that all police accommodation deals went to companies linked to Panday.

The court was expected to proceed with Madhoe's bail application yesterday. However, the state asked to be given at least three days to "investigate some aspects in order to formulate grounds to oppose bail".

But Panday's advocate, Jimmy Howse, argued that it was in the interest of justice that the bail applications of both men be heard simultaneously.

Prosecutor Bheki Manyathi told the court that the National Intelligence Agency had found that Booysen's life had been threatened and that the state wanted to investigate whether witnesses' lives would be at risk if the accused were granted bail.

Howse said Panday was aware of his imminent arrest while in Zambia.

( Times Live )

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Mercury Reporter


BUSINESSMAN Thoshan Panday, who was arrested over the weekend on allegations that he attempted to bribe KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen, will appear in court in Durban today.

Panday – a suspect in a R60 million police accommodation tender probe – was arrested at Joburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Saturday, on his return from Zambia where he was reportedly doing business.

Yesterday, police from Durban drove to Joburg to fetch him for this morning’s court appearance.

Accompanied by two policemen, he arrived in the afternoon at Brighton Beach police station, where he was detained last night.

Panday said nothing as he was led into the police station and tried to look away when he realised that the media were waiting for him.

His arrest follows a “sting operation” in which supply-chain management policeman Colonel Navin Madhoe allegedly attempted to bribe Booysen to backdate a document – allegedly on Panday’s instructions.

If successful, the document would have suggested that the police had accessed Panday’s bank accounts before applying for and receiving search warrants, and it would have tainted all evidence the police had then seized.

Madhoe was arrested moments after he put a suitcase containing R1.3m into Booysen’s car. It is alleged that a further R700 000 was to be paid later.

Madhoe would also appear in the Durban commercial crime court this morning, when the State is expected to indicate whether it would oppose bail being granted.

Last year, The Mercury revealed that after the probe into the alleged scam had been initiated, Panday had paid for a 40-guest birthday party for Brigadier Lucas Ngobeni, husband of provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

The party took place at The Dish Restaurant on May 29, 2010.

Last week, The Mercury reported on the contents of two documents written by one of the investigating officers in the probe, in which it is alleged that, just four days after it was launched, Ngobeni had ordered in April last year that the probe be discontinued.

It was only officially resurrected once investigators appealed directly to national Hawks head General Anwa Dramat.

Ngobeni has denied any knowledge of Panday funding her husband’s party.

She declined to comment on the further allegations that she had stopped the investigation, saying that the matter was now sub judice.