Fraudster’s ride nears its end
Unravelling the tangled dealings of Daniel Jagadasan Singh’s teetering construction empire
The eThekwini municipality is reviewing a R176-million contract awarded in 2011 Singh has flouted the Companies Act by remaining a director of at least six companies
THE construction empire at the centre of the Tongaat mall collapse is on the verge of collapse.
And the man behind it, Daniel Jagadasan Singh, is facing scrutiny from a range of authorities.
Government departments are investigating how he breached the Companies Act, which prohibits a convicted fraudster from being a director or shareholder of a company;
The eThekwini municipality in Durban is reviewing a R176million contract awarded in 2011 to a Singh company, Gralio Precast, to build 500 houses in Cornubia, a R25-billion development;
Housing projects awarded to companies linked to Singh in other municipalities, including Scottburgh, where Gralio Precast had been given a R50-million contract to build 500 low-cost houses, are being scrutinised;
The National Home Builders’ Registration Council ( NHBRC) has started an investigation of allegedly shoddy workmanship by Woodglaze Trading and Gralio Precast, the companies of Singh’s ex-wife, Shireen Annamalay; and
The state’s low-cost housing agency, the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), is probing his involvement in a company that was paid more than R235-million to build 1 244 lowcost units in Durban.
SHRA chief executive Brian Moholo said his organisation, an entity of the Department of Human Settlements, was investigating Singh’s directorship in the Moko rental housing project.
Annamalay manages Moko, which develops and collects rentals from four residential complexes — Foresthaven, Longcroft, Eastbury and Stanmore — in Phoenix, Durban.
Several years ago, the eThekwini municipality awarded Woodglaze Trading a tender to develop low-cost units. Only land was made available for the development. To receive social funding, Woodglaze registered Moko as a section 21 company.
The complexes, built on landfill sites, were rented to first-time homeowners who earned between R3 500 and R7 000.
Moholo said the SHRA was unaware that Singh became involved in Moko’s administration after more than R235-million was paid to build the units.
“When the Moko Rental Housing Project applied for accreditation with the SHRA in 2011, Singh was not a director.”
Singh, who founded Moko in May 2008, was a director until July 7 2009. He rejoined the company on November 9 last year after the SHRA had completed its due diligence to regularise Moko and paid the remaining R196.6million.
“The SHRA has no knowledge of Singh being reappointed as a director . . . we are seeking legal advice,” said Moholo, adding that the findings would be referred to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, which would take it up with the National Prosecuting Authority.
The investigations into Singh come just more than a week after a concrete slab the size of a soccer field collapsed in the Tongaat mall, leaving two people dead and injuring 29.
eThekwini city manager Sibusiso Sithole said the houses built by Gralio Precast in Cornubia would be inspected.
“[The houses] look good on the surface . . . but I can’t guarantee that in six months the houses will look the same,” he said.
“I’ve asked the NHBRC to give us an assurance that what we see now is what will last.”
Singh has flouted the Companies Act by remaining a director of at least six companies despite his fraud conviction.
His family has interests in more than 55 companies ranging from tow trucks and shopping centres to grocery stores. Although he has resigned from most, including the company behind the Tongaat mall collapse, he still wields significant control over them.
The Companies Act states that anyone who is disqualified from serving as a director and acts as one is guilty of an offence. Singh was convicted of fraud and fined R6 000 in 1996 for offering a municipal employee a bribe to overlook shoddy construction.
Legal experts said he could have served as a director only if a high court had granted him permission.