Nine years and counting — Pather ducks jail again

Durban businessman Alvin Pather this week continued his fight to stay out of jail after he was sentenced to serve eight years for defrauding banks out of about R70m.

Pather failed in his bid for bail, pending a review of his fraud conviction in October 2018. 

In terms of the order, he should have handed himself over to prison authorities by Monday.

However,  on that day his lawyers made an urgent application in the Pietermaritzburg high court, arguing he was appealing this ruling and asking for his bail to be extended until that was finalised.

Because the application was set down to be heard at 4pm, it was adjourned until March 14 for the state to file papers opposing the application.

TimesLIVE recently reported Pather was set to swap his plush Zimbali estate home for a prison cell after regional court magistrate Garth Davis refused to extend his bail.

Pather first appeared in court nine years ago. He was charged with lying to three banks about the financial status of his company Biotrace to get loans which he said he needed to set up an ICU in his home to care for his critically ill sister.

Pather, through his lawyers, delayed the start of the trial by asking for further particulars to the charges and making representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions in an attempt to get the charges withdrawn.

In October 2018 he pleaded guilty to the 16 counts of fraud and in June 2019 was given a wholly suspended sentence of eight years.

The state, however, took this on appeal and in November 2022 judge Peter Olsen, with judge Sharmaine Balton concurring, upheld the appeal on sentence and replaced it with one of eight years' direct imprisonment.

Pather then attempted to appeal this in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court and failed.   

A few months before the Constitutional Court ruling he launched a review application, saying he had never intended to plead guilty, that he had been “promised” a wholly suspended sentence and there was an informal “agreement” regarding this with the prosecutor and the magistrate.

Pather’s bail has been extended over the years and he again sought bail pending the outcome of the review, but Davis turned him down.

He noted Pather appeared to be intent on “lawfare”, that his trial in the Durban regional court had been postponed 29 times, all but four at his behest.

He said there was no prospect of success in the review, that Pather was seemingly intent on pleading not guilty to the fraud charges before another magistrate, but on the same admissions he had made in his guilty plea.

“To further allow him to avoid the consequences of his admitted conduct more than nine years after he first appeared in courts is untenable,” Davis said, noting the matter was “casting ridicule on the entire legal system”.

However, Pather said Davis was wrong. He is intent on appealing the ruling listing a number of “errors” he alleges were made. This includes that Davis erred in finding the review application had no prospects of success.

In his affidavit, Pather said there was no justifiable reason for him to be forced to serve his sentence pending his appeal against Davis’s ruling refusing bail.

He has promised that should he be granted bail and his appeal fails, he will report to Durban North police station within 72 hours.

TimesLIVE