Durban - Controversial Durban businessman Thoshan Panday’s alleged corrupt dealing with KwaZulu-Natal police officers came under scrutiny once again at the Zondo commission into state capture on Wednesday, as former Scorpions investigator took to the stand and spilled the beans.
Colonel Johannes van Loggerenberg, who played a leading role in the probe into the tender corruption linked to Panday and senior cops at provincial supply chain management in relation to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, testified how Panday inflated prices when he was awarded tenders by the SA Police Service.
Van Loggerenberg said a probe into Panday and his companies was launched after it had appeared that several police members at supply chain management were used by Panday to acquire tenders in respect of accommodating police members for the 2010 soccer World Cup.
He said after enquiries at hotels and bed and breakfast businesses in Durban, it was discovered that Panday was charging the SAPS more than 200% above the normal price.
Van Loggerenberg told the commission how a search-and-seizure operation conducted he and other investigators conducted at the Panday’s offices led to the team’s discovery of the evidence of Panday’s tender price inflations.
“We came across an A5 hardcopy black book which had his company names with columns and the tenders the companies got. He would write the actual price of the tender and then write his price. He actually kept the record of that in his possession,” Van Loggerenberg said.
In April last year, the commission heard from former KZN hawks boss Johan Booysen how SAPS officials sought to block any investigation into Panday's dodgy dealings implicating cops by the elite crime fighting unit.
He said he had also learnt through an affidavit by a Pinetown businessman who supplied generators to Panday’s companies for the World Cup that he had massively inflated their price when he charged the SAPS.
“It is small generators, not big generators. The price he paid for each generator was R4900. I took affidavit of that company and then I followed up on what he told the police. He cost the police between R92 000 and R97 000 for the same generators for one generator. That was signed by supply chain management and he got paid for that,” he said.
Van Loggerenberg's testimony continues.