The National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the Investigative Directorate (ID) conducted a search and seizure operation at the properties of Durban businessman Thoshan Panday and some of his business associates.
This comes after the ID and the AFU were granted yet another provisional restraint order amounting to R165 million against the assets of Panday and his ex- wife, former provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonye Ngobeni and seven others.
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 provisional restraint order emanates from a series of acts of fraud, corruption, forgery, bribery and money-laundering before and after the 2010 soccer world cup, and resultant unlawful activities linked to the accused and their associates.
The seizure of the assets including designer bags, cars, and other property was carried out on Monday in and around Durban, by a curator appointed by the Durban High Court.
The NPA said the execution of the court order by the curator appointed by the high court took place after the court granted the order on 29 March 2023.
The NPA’s Investigative directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka, said the curator was subsequently issued with letters of curatorship by the master of the high court on 11 April 2023.
“This restraint order is directly linked to the criminal case first enrolled by the Investigative Directorate, S v Madhoe and 8 others in the Durban’s magistrates court in October 2021, which has been transferred to the Durban High Court.
“The restraint order has been granted in terms of Chapter 5 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (POCA) against property/assets of the 9 persons or entities they gave gifts to,” Seboka said.
In 2021, 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 requested by the accused.
Panday has been fingered as the sole member of Goldcast Trading CC. which was awarded orders for accommodation for police members deployed within the KZN province during times of unrest in 2009 at inflated prices.
It is alleged that the company was awarded 80% of the accommodation contracts ahead of the 2010 soccer world cup. Goldcast along with four other entities associated with Panday allegedly received orders approved by Madhoe and Narainpershad for miscellaneous goods as required by the SAPS which were fraudulently approved through forgery.
“The five entities alleged to have been controlled by and associated with him through family member ownership, were paid over R47,3 million by the SAPS between October 2009 and August 2010. In the application, the NPA has alleged that Panday is the mastermind of this criminal enterprise.
“By the end of 2009 he managed to get control of Public Order Policing Unit: Operational Response Service (ORS) deployment accommodation contracts with the help of Madhoe and Narainpershad in KZN supply chain management (SCM) by deceiving the official who usually did procurement for ORS members to be deployed,” Seboka added.
As such Seboka said the curator was successful in freezing the bank accounts of all the cited parties following yesterday’s execution order with the court case set to return to court on 25 August 2023.
In October 2020, Panday was granted bail of R100 000 by the Durban Magistrate’s Court.