R47 million World Cup corruption case set to resume in Durban

The R47 million corruption and racketeering case against controversial Durban businessman Thoshan Panday and former KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni is set to resume at the Durban High Court on Tuesday.

The case against the pair and their seven co-accused was postponed in August due to a request for information relating to the case from the accused.

Panday and Ngobeni, as well as South African Police Service (Saps) Colonel Navin Madhoe, former police captain Aswin Narainpershad and Panday’s mother Arevenda Panday; his wife Privisha Panday; his sister Kajal Ishwarkumar; Panday’s brother-in-law, Seveesh Maharaj Ishwarkumar, and Thoshan’s personal assistant, Tasleem Rahiman – face charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption and money laundering.

The accused were arrested in 2020 by the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID), working with the Hawks.

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Panday’s family is accused of being party to a common purpose with Thoshan and others to defraud the Saps through their association with entities that were used to score lucrative contracts from the police service.

The policemen who are accused in this matter face accusations of colluding with Thoshan to receive contracts from the KZN police.

At the last court appearance in August, Rahiman was not present and a warrant of arrest against her was issued but
stayed.

Fifa World Cup corruption case

Panday is alleged to have scored big from, amongst other deals, dodgy tenders to provide local accommodation for police in the lead-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, with Ngobeni and Madhoe and Narainpersad allegedly greasing the wheels for him.

He allegedly plied Madhoe and Narainpersad with flights, hotel stays, exercise equipment and even a car to ensure a tranche of tenders – mainly to provide accommodation for police deployments in the run-up to and during the football tournament, but also for miscellaneous goods and services, such as water bottles and blankets.

Ngobeni is alleged to have scooped a lavish birthday party for her husband Lucas, also a police officer, in exchange for her efforts to sink an initial probe into the corruption allegations.

It has taken more than 10 years to get these accused into the dock.

The cases against them were originally dropped before being reinstated in 2018.

It still took another two years to get them to court and their arrests last year came on the back of a failed bid by Panday to have the decision to reinstate the cases overturned.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe. Additional reporting by Bernadette Wicks