Restaurateurs to plead not guilty over bribes
THE owners of the popular Little Gujarat restaurants, who were arrested in connection with the alleged sale of places at the UKZN medical school, plan to plead not guilty.
This emerged when Hiteshkumar and Varsha Bhatt appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Hiteshkumar, 46, Varsha, 42, and co-accused Preshni Hiramun, 55, were granted R 40 000 bail. They face charges of fraud and corruption.
The trio were arrested by the Hawks on Thursday for allegedly selling posts at UKZN’s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine for up to R500 000, POST’s sister paper, the Sunday Tribune, reported.
Bail conditions included that the trio had to surrender their passports and not leave Durban without the consent of the investigating officer. The matter was adjourned to August 31.
In his affidavit in support of bail, Hiteshkumar said he had been “lured” to his shop in the Durban CBD by police who had “lied” to him that there was a robbery there and that he and his wife were in danger.
He claimed he could only afford bail of R15 000 while his wife said she could pay only R10 000.
The La Lucia couple have two children, both of them students.
Meanwhile, UKZN said the next phase would be to identify accomplices and beneficiaries.
“Parents, staff and students with knowledge of these illegal activities are encouraged to come forward with information. Any persons found to have participated and/or benefited from this illegal practice will face criminal prosecution,” said vice-chancellor Albert van Jaarsveld.
The School of Medicine student representative council had no official statement, but general secretary Tumisang Malete told POST: “We are shocked to see it is an ongoing thing.”
A student who graduated from UKZN’s medical school in 2013 described the scandal as embarrassing.
“Speaking as an Indian, it is not acceptable. For this to happen in our community, which is known to have high standards and morals, I never expected it.”
He said he never suspected such acts were happening during his time at UKZN.
“The calibre of new students I don’t know, but from my time I thought everyone I knew deserved to be there.”
KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said: “Such actions fly in the face of all our efforts to transform the health sector and ensure that deserving students from all regions get an equal opportunity to study health sciences – not just those whose parents can afford a bribe.”