Durban businessman Thoshan Panday is due in court on Friday. Picture: File image
Thoshan Panday is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday morning.
Panday, who faces over 27 counts of fraud, failed to appear in court on September 25, 2024.
The 52-year-old was reportedly receiving medical treatment at private hospital in Durban.
Panday has been denied bail following his arrest on September 5, 2024. He was held at the Durban’s Westville Prison.
He faces 27 counts of fraud, alternatively contraventions of tax legislation which outlines false returns in respect of VAT and Annual Income Tax in which the South African Revenue Services was allegedly prejudiced an amount of R7.3 million.
The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption's Henry Mamothame said that the Magistrate ordered that the head of prison and the admitting doctor where Panday is allegedly kept for medical attention to be subpoenaed to account for his absence and for not informing the court and the state.
This despite a medical certificate being produced by his legal representative and handed in to the record indicating that Panday is admitted in a private hospital in Durban.
Indictments were due to be served on September 25, 2024 and the matter was going to be transferred to the Durban High Court.
In another matter, Panday is also facing corruption, fraud and money laundering charges in relation to the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
The State alleges that Panday was effectively in control of several entities which had received payments from the South African Police Services (SAPS) in an amount of approximately R47 million owing to a corrupt relationship with members of the Supply Chain Management Division of the SAPS.
The State further alleges these payments were allegedly made in respect of services rendered to the SAPS preceding and during the Soccer World Cup in 2010.
His co-accused include close family members like his 69-year-old mother Arvenda, his wife Privisha Panday, 45, his sister Kajal Ishwarkumar, 37, brother-in-law Seveesh Maharaj, 44, and personal assistant Tasleem Rahiman, 35.
That matter will be heard next year in the Durban High Court.
IOL News