2010 fraud-accused Toshan Panday asks court to investigate delays in case

Durban businessman Toshan Panday will have to wait almost four weeks to hear whether the state will disclose certain information to him and if the court will investigate delays in his case.

Panday is facing 27 tax fraud charges amounting to approximately R7.5 million relating to the 2010 Fifa World Cup. There are eight other accused in the case, including former KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

‘Unreasonable delays’ in Panday’s case

Panday appeared before the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on Thursday.

There, he was told his case would be postponed to 18 November 2024 for Justice Khosi Hadebe to make a ruling on the state’s leave to appeal a court order compelling it to disclose certain information to the accused and on section 342A of the Criminal Procedure Act application by the accused, requesting the court to investigate the alleged unreasonable delays in the case.

His tax matter will also be heard in court on that date as the matter was postponed for the disclosure of the case docket.

The last time Panday appeared in court, on 7 October, his bid to appeal a decision denying him bail was dismissed by the High Court.

In her judgement, Judge Esther Steyn concluded that Panday is a flight risk, considering that he had supplied false information to the court when he applied for variation of the bail condition to travel to the United Emirates, Italy, Europe and other countries listed in his itinerary.

He instead travelled to the United States of America, deviating from what the court had authorised.

“The judgement also highlighted that releasing Panday on bail will bring the criminal justice into disrepute,” said Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) spokesperson Henry Mamothame.

Tax fraud during the 2010 Fifa World Cup

The state alleges that Panday was effectively in control of several entities which had received payments from the South African Police Services (Saps) in an amount of approximately R47 million owing to a corrupt relationship with members of the Supply Chain Management Division of the Saps.

These payments were allegedly made in respect of services rendered to the Saps preceding and during the Soccer World Cup in 2010.

As a result, it is alleged that the South African Revenue Services (Sars) suffered prejudice in the amount of more than R7 million as a result of these false tax declarations.

Additional reporting by Faizel Patel