KZN health 'fraudsters' charged
2007-08-28 21:12
Pretoria - Bribes totalling almost R670 000 have been paid to KwaZulu-Natal health officials to award contracts worth R9.2m to certain contractors, the police's commercial crime unit said on Tuesday.
Three contractors had been arrested and four private companies charged with offences including fraud, corruption and money laundering relating to the scam, the police's Divisional Commissioner for detectives, Johan de Beer, said in statement.
It is alleged that since 1999 private contractors have been bribing officials to secure lucrative government contracts to supply 12 hospitals in the province with goods and services.
Three contractors - Selvan Govender, 39, Mayandhree Govender, 34, both of Pinetown and Bischamkumar Prithraj, 39, of Malvern - have already appeared in court facing charges relating to the case.
In addition, four private companies - Medi-World Medical and Surgical Supplies CC, Nicho Enterprises, Titan Medical Supplies and Rosswin Technologies - have also been charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering.
It is estimated that contracts worth R9.2m have been allocated to the private contractors in this manner.
- SAPA