World Cup corruption case: Thoshan Panday wants bail conditions relaxed

The R47 million fraud and corruption case against controversial Durban businessman Thoshan Panday and his co-accused on Tuesday was postponed to 4 May 2022.

This after Panday and his eight co-accused appeared at the Durban High Court for the resumption of their case. But the matter was deferred for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to provide further information as requested through correspondence by the accused.

According to the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID), Panday also lodged an application requesting that his bail conditions be relaxed. That matter will be heard by a separate judge and a date for the hearing is still to be determined.

In October last year, Panday was granted bail of R100,000 by the Durban Magistrates Court.

The ID’s spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said the state would bring a counter application for the cancellation of his bail.

Panday and his co-accused – former KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni; South African Police Service (Saps) Colonel Navin Madhoe and former police captain Aswin Narainpershad – face charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption and money laundering.

The policemen who are accused in this matter face accusations of colluding with Thoshan to receive contracts from the KZN police in the lead-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The other accused in the case included Panday’s mother, Arevenda Panday; his wife, Privisha Panday; his sister, Kajal Ishwarkumar; Panday’s brother-in-law, Seveesh Maharaj Ishwarkumar and Toshan Panday’s personal assistant, Tasleem Rahiman.

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

At their last court appearance in August, Rahiman was not present and a warrant of arrest against her was issued but stayed. On Tuesday, the warrant of arrest was cancelled by Judge JI Henriques.

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