Whistleblower ‘subjected to 24 hours of hell’
Security firm says tip-off was extortion, writes Mervyn Naidoo
AWHISTLEBLOWER who claimed to have information about rampant theft at a huge plant-hire company alleged he was kidnapped and tortured for more than 24 hours by the staff and security personnel.
Dillon Pillay said all he had wanted to do was alert the Aqua Transport and Plant Hire company, owned by Durban brothers Kevin and Donovan Naicker, to the fact that vehicle parts were being stolen from the company.
Instead, he claimed he was subjected to “more than 24 hours of hell”. He said the company had denied the assault and alleged Pillay wanted to extort money from them.
“I honestly believed I was going to die,” said Pillay, who claimed he had been forced to spend a cold night locked in a grubby bin of a rubbish truck wearing only underwear while blood trickled from an arm wound.
Pillay said while six men pummelled him with a baseball bat, fists and boots, Aqua director Donovan Naicker goaded his employees, saying: “Give him, break him.”
Pillay has laid charges of kidnapping, assault and robbery against his assailants, including Naicker.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed Pillay had reported the incident of April 13/14 but that “no arrests have been made at this stage”.
While the unemployed Pillay of Wyebank suffered at the hands of his captors, his family searched frantically for him at hospitals and the mortuary.
Pillay claimed he was also warned not to report the matter to the police or go to hospital for treatment.
Pillay said he had made contact with Aqua Transport in December to alert them that an employee had been stealing vehicle parts. After verifying the information, the company paid him R10 000.
He again contacted Aqua Transport two weeks ago offering more information but this time was unable to prove his allegation and that is when he was allegedly assaulted.
Senzo Mhlanzi, a manager at Mmemzi Protection Ser- vices, contracted to provide security services for Aqua Transport – and who was accused of being among the group that allegedly beat Pillay – denied that he or any other personnel from his firm had abducted or assaulted Pillay.
“I think all these allegations are a part of Dillon’s plan to extort more money from Aqua. When he’s broke, he thinks he can make quick money from Aqua,” Mhlanzi alleged.
Sagree Gounden, spokeswoman for Aqua Transport and Plant Hire, said the company was investigating.
“The allegations of theft and fraud were brought to the attention of Calvin Samuels, our operations manager, by Mmemzi Protection Services. At this stage the security company is investigating the allegations and we await their report, due shortly,” she said.
Gounden said the company was not aware of Pillay’s complaints.