Johannesburg - PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic investigator Trevor White has detailed how senior police officers in KwaZulu-Natal individually benefited from aiding alleged criminal activities of controversial businessman Thoshan Panday.
White was on the stand for the second day at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture in Parktown, Johannesburg.
White is one of a number of witnesses who testified before the commission on how Panday colluded with supply-chain management officers and other top cops to irregularly clinch contracts from the provincial SAPS at inflated prices in exchange for bribes to the involved cops.
The tenders, which saw Panday securing R47 million in 10 months, related to goods and services provided by Panday’s companies during the 2010 Fifa World Cup, including accommodation.
White said Colonel Navin Madhoe, who is fingered as having played a lead role in the scandal – allegedly receiving around R6 000 from Panday and paid trips for him and his family from Durban to Cape Town at the cost of R8 584, after Madhoe made a submission to the national commissioner’s office to authorise for the accommodation of cops in one of Panday’s residences.
According to White, Panday had also paid R43 500 to Varsity College for the son of Captain Aswin Narainpershad’s son in January 2010.
“This payment was made shortly after the submission was made to the national commissioner’s office on October 2009 to obtain authority for the accommodation of police personnel during the Soccer World Cup and where it was recorded that the only supplier who was able to accommodate police personnel was Gold Coast Trading (Panday’s company),” White said.
Wite said Narainpershad was also responsible for requesting quotations from suppliers, adding that one of the suppliers accused them of lying about having contacted them for a quotation for the tender.
“When these submissions were done to the national office in 2009, they said that Coastlands had not responded to a request for a quotation. In fact most of the suppliers, they said, didn’t respond and as the result Gold Coast was the only supplier that made rooms available.
“When Coastlands was interviewed by the police investigating the matter, they said they were never asked to quote in 2009. They were only asked to quote in April and May of 2010 and even though they said they had a significant number of rooms available, a very small portion of those rooms, in fact less than half, was booked by the police and Captain Naranpershad allocated those bookings to Gold Coast, who then went and booked them at Coastlands and charged the police a significantly higher price,” White said.
Former KZN Hawks head Johan Booysen and retired former Scorpions investigator and Hawks Colonel Johannes van Loggerenberg previously told the commission how Panday was aided by top cops to inflate prices for the tenders.
On Monday, White told the commission the case against Panday would be winnable in a court of law as there was documentary evidence to support the criminal allegations against him and his accomplices.
He said the report, which was compiled by PwC, into the various allegations had been forwarded to law enforcement and prosecuting authorities.
The inquiry continues.