‘Cloak of secrecy’: ex-KZN NPA boss’ letter to Batohi adds new twist in Panday case

A scathing 57-page letter, which fingers the people who declined to prosecute controversial Durban businessman, Thoshan Panday, on three separate corruption cases, is in the hands of NPA boss Shamila Batohi. 

The letter sent by former director of public prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal advocate Moipone Noko was cited as a “setback” in the case of Panday and his three co-accused who appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.  

On Wednesday, Panday, former KZN police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni and ex-cops Ashwin Narainpershad and Navin Madhoe appeared before magistrate Vanitha Armu on charges of corruption and fraud linked to 2010 Fifa World Cup police tenders valued at R47m.

I cannot remain to stay silent while I am traumatised and made to feel like I am parading naked in public due to this unfair and unjust treatment for simply doing my job.

—  Former KZN DPP Moipone Noko in a letter to NPA boss Shamila Batohi

The corruption charges relate to payments made towards a birthday party for Ngobeni’s husband and a R2m bribe offered to former Hawks boss in the province, Johan Booysen, to subvert the investigation against Panday and Madhoe.

Booysen arranged a sting operation in an attempt to bring down Madhoe and Panday after Madhoe had allegedly told him that Panday had “two bar” (R2m) for him should he cooperate. 

Ngobeni further stands accused of failing to disclose the benefits received from Panday as well as a charges of defeating the administration of justice.

Investigating directorate (ID) prosecutor Talita Louw said the state was ready to proceed with its investigations but had been set back by the letter Batohi had received from Noko — the current head of prosecutions in North West. 

NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema confirmed that the letter, dated October 27, had been circulated to staff. 

He said he had no knowledge of it being in the hands of Batohi, but did not dispute Louw’s claims. 

“I am not disputing that, but all I know is that this is the same copy that was circulated to staff,” he told Sunday Times Daily who had forwarded him the letter. 

Louw in the meantime said Batohi, who has already responded to Noko, had to “apply her mind” to the contents of the letter as it had direct implications on the case. 

Advocate Jimmy Howse, representing Panday, said there was a “cloak of secrecy” around the letter as the state failed to provide information to the court of what it entailed.

In the letter, which Sunday Times Daily is in possession of, Noko claims she is being vilified for decisions taken by other people.

“It’s almost 10 years now that I am being insulted, labelled and called names because of some of the cases that I dealt with when I was the DPP in KZN.

“This vilification continues to this day, with the concomitant silence from my own employer, despite that I have sent and sent my explanations,” she wrote.

During her 10 years at the helm of KZN prosecutions, Noko gained a dismal reputation regarding the cases she chose and declined to prosecute. 

Among her most controversial decisions was to not prosecute Panday in 2014, but instead embark on a concerted effort to nail the man investigating him, former KZN Hawks boss Johan Booysen. 

She defends her decision to have the charges against Panday withdrawn due to the “manner in which it was handled by police”.

“I do not believe that the police acted on good faith, and that unsettled me, made me uncomfortable and not to believe that proceeding with a case that had so been dealt with by the police in doing justice. Hence my decision not to prosecute in this case.” 

Batohi will now have to decide on how the matter should proceed. 

On Wednesday, magistrate Armu postponed the case against Panday and his co-accused to December 17 to give the ID an opportunity to obtain authorisation from Batohi to bring racketeering charges against the accused.