Top cops in R140m tender fraud

Alleged elaborate corruption includes race misrepresentation, forgery of documents, and intimidation

A STAGGERING R140 million in an alleged elaborate fraud and corruption case has snagged two senior police officers as the SAPS’s tender rot was laid bare in court.

On Friday, at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, Lieutenant-General Ramahlapi Mokwena and Brigadier James Ramanjalum appeared alongside eight other officers and six civilians in the business sector on charges of fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering amounting to R56m.

This is related to a 2017 tender to brand police vehicles, where there’s alleged intimidation of innocent officers, family favours, and misrepresentation of IDs and document manipulation granted two companies – Vatika Trading and Kgotho Trading – millions of rand for work supposedly fraudulently acquired.

Ramanjalum and Mokwena also face R84m in fraud and corruption charges, which were instituted in 2018, in another matter before the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court related to the fitting of Gauteng police vehicles with sirens, radio and other equipment.

This brings to R140m the alleged tender graft that Mokwena and Ramanjalum are embroiled in.

Mokwena, who recently retired from the police, was the national head for supply chain management while Ramanjalum is still the SAPS’s national head of procurement.

On Friday, prosecutor advocate

Richard Chabalala revealed how Lorrette Joubert, who is accused number one, a white woman and the sole director of Vatika, allegedly misrepresented herself as a black woman to receive the lucrative vehicle tender.

Advocate Chabalala said in court that Joubert was allegedly fronting for accused number two, Kishen Chetty, the supposed real owner of Vatika. Kishen’s father, Krishna Chetty, is accused number three and is also allegedly involved.

Ramanjalum, who was part of the bid evaluation committee and Mokwena, who chaired the bid adjudication committee (BAC), are said to have manipulated documents and intimidated their colleagues into fraudulently giving tenders to Vatika and Kgotho.

This, the state alleged, was done with the assistance of Marcell Marney, accused number 14, who was stationed in Ramanjalum’s office as the chief provisioning administration clerk.

Marney is allegedly related to the Chetty family by marriage.

“On two different occasions, Mokwena called Ramanjalum to the BAC so that he could explain certain aspects of the submissions. The documents submitted to the BAC included the identity document of Joubert.

“It was very clear from the copy of the identity document of Joubert that she is a white woman; not a black woman as misrepresented in the bid documents,” Chabalala’s charge sheet read.

“During BAC’s proceedings, Mokwena shouted at and intimidated the other members of the BAC and accused them of trying to scupper the progress of a black company, when in truth the entity which was being considered was owned by a white woman.”

All the accused indicated that they were innocent and would plead not guilty. All of them, except for Ramanjalum, were released on R5 000 bail.

The state opposed Ramanjalum’s bail, saying the cumulative charges against him made him a risk for skipping trial.

But Ramanjalum, in an affidavit read in court by his lawyer Kineil Muthray, also maintained his innocence and welcomed the investigations of fraud.

He remains in custody and will return to court on Thursday for the finalisation of his bail hearing.