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Bacher testifies in R7.4m case
09/07/2007 22:15 - (SA)
Magdel Fourie, Beeld
Johannesburg - Allegations of forged e-mail correspondence between former cricket chief Ali Bacher and Diteko Modise, former financial manager of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, emerged in the commercial court here on Monday.
Dr Bacher, a former UCBSA chief, testified in the case in which Modise is accused of fraud amounting to about R7.4m, as well as money laundering with UCB funds.
Printouts of alleged e-mail correspondence dated March 2004 were handed in as evidence.
The correspondence concerns allegations that Bacher gave Modise permission to transfer amounts of R1.65m and R2.9m to a bank account of a so-called company within PPC Cement.
Bacher said in his evidence the correspondence was forged. "I never sent this letter and never gave such permission," he said.
According to the charge-sheet the bank account into which the money was eventually paid was Modise's private account.
Bacher told the court he did not have the authority to approve any payments.
He had not been associated in any way with the UCB or Modise after he had left the board in 2004, Bacher said.
Never used a computer
He had first become aware of the alleged email correspondence when it was discovered in the UCB offices and faxed to him by the assistant of Modise's successor, Don James MacIntosh.
He had immediately telephoned Niesha Green, his personal assistant who handled almost all his documentation and correspondence on computer. After looking at it, she had declared it as "forged," Bacher testified.
People involved in cricket knew he never used a computer and he had organised the 2001 cricket World Cup tournament by cellphone. "I learnt only this year how to use a computer," Bacher said.
The case is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
Modise was arrested in March 2004 after an investigation by the UCB's auditors into allegations of misappropriation of funds.
That was after it had been found that approximately R7.4m had disappeared from the organisation's funds while it was Modise's job to handle all internal UCB audits.
Modise was, despite his position, not entitled to spend any UCB money without the necessary authorisation.
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