World Cup corruption case involving former KZN top cop and businessman moved to high court for pretrial

The high-profile corruption matter involving Durban businessman Thoshan Panday, former KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni and former cops Ashwin Narainpershad and Navin Madhoe will go to trial in 2021.

The matter was transferred to the high court when the accused appeared in the Durban regional court on Thursday.

Narainpershad was not present as the court heard he had been in quarantine after his son tested positive for Covid-19.

In what has been a decade-long case, senior state prosecutor Dorian Paver said national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) advocate Shamila Batohi authorised the state's racketeering certificate on Thursday morning.

The racketeering certificate would allow the state to draw in a lot more people to be charged in the matter, as they would be charged together, as opposed to individually. Paver said the state also intended on prosecuting five others in the matter when it goes to the high court.

All four are accused of corruption linked to 2010 Fifa World Cup police tenders involving about R47m.

They have been charged with multiple counts of corruption. Three of them face five counts of fraud, two counts of forgery and one count of uttering (when a person offers as genuine a forged instrument with the intent to defraud).

Ngobeni was charged with defeating the ends of justice as she ordered investigators to stop their investigation into tender fraud. As a high-ranking officer, it was her duty to report fraud and criminal activity.

Panday is alleged to have forked out R26,000 for Ngobeni's husband's birthday party in 2010.

In February, the state capture inquiry heard how Panday allegedly captured top police officials before the 2010 World Cup. This was detailed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) auditor Trevor White, who testified at the inquiry.

The case was postponed to February 8 2021.

All accused will remain out on bail until their next appearance.

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