Panday granted R200 000 bail

2012-04-19 12:39

Durban - Businessman Thoshan Panday was granted R200 000 bail in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Magistrate Sharon Marks ordered Panday not to communicate with any member of the South African police, unless through his attorney. He was not allowed to interfere with any police investigation or State witness.

Panday and Captain Aswin Narainpershad face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, incitement to commit fraud, and corruption.

They allegedly offered R1m to Captain Kevin Stephen to help them generate false invoices worth R15m for submission to the SA Police Service, from December 2011 to March 2012.

At the time of his arrest early in April, he was out on R100 000 bail in a case where he is accused of trying to pay a R2m bribe to KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss, Major-General Johan Booysen.

The State had argued that bail should be denied because Panday had the means to interfere with witnesses, and that there were no exceptional circumstances for him to get bail.

Panday's lawyers had said the State's assertion that he would interfere with witnesses was based on unproven allegations.

- SAPA