Inquiry applies for extension

STATEMENT: STATE CAPTURE COMMISSION HAS ASKED TO CONTINUE ITS WORK TO YEAR-END

Retired colonel testifies about blocked probes into businessman.

The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture announced yesterday that it has lodged a court application to extend its “lifespan”. “The public and the media are hereby notified that on December 20, 2019 the commission lodged an application in the High Court in Pretoria for an order extending the commission’s lifespan from the end of February to December 31, 2020,” a statement issued by the commission reads.

Meanwhile, the commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, yesterday heard testimony from retired Colonel Johannes Van Loggerenberg on his role into various investigations into Durban-based businessman Thoshan Panday and how these were stopped or blocked even though there was “overwhelming” evidence.

The investigations included a case of corruption and fraud, implicating former KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni and police officials from the South African Police Service (Saps) supply chain management department.

The investigation probed how Panday allegedly inflated prices in a R60 million contract to supply temporary accommodation for police members in KwaZulu-Natal during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Van Loggerenberg told the commission the investigation found that the two police officials in the Saps supply chain management department – Colonel Navin Madhoe and Captain Aswin Narainpershad – had allegedly overlooked other contractors who bid for the aforementioned tender in order for Panday’s company to be awarded the contract.

The commission heard that Panday allegedly “wined and dined” Madhoe, Narainpershad and Ngobeni, and bought them gifts and sent them on holidays.

The witness also told the commission that Panday used various companies, one registered in his name and others in the names of his wife, sister and brother-inlaw, to bid for tenders at the SA Police Service.

“He would get the tenders at the end of the day,” Loggerenberg said.

He told the commission that Madhoe had also assisted Panday to register his companies on the Saps database without following the “proper channels”.

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