Suspended IDAC Duo At Heart Of R69m Tender Case Review Challenge

A FORMER Bhisho official fighting to clear his name in a R69m police tender scandal has asked the National Prosecuting Authority to confirm whether his fraud and corruption case is among those being reviewed by the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) — a process that could determine whether the prosecution against him continues.

The review was announced by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mmamoloko Kubayi and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Andy Mothibi, two months ago, following revelations and allegations of wrongdoing by IDAC investigators, through evidence before the Madlanga Commission. Among those are KuGompo City-based Chief Investigator Dylan Perumal and Suneel Bellochum.

Neil Naidoo, now retired, is a former senior official of the Eastern Cape Department of Community Safety and Liaison in Bhisho. Naidoo worked for the department from 1997 to 2023, where he was the most senior official responsible for civilian oversight of the South African Police Service. He was among the department’s first employees -- joining it before it became a fully-fledged department. He worked alongside the late Dumisani Mafu, Singatha Mafanya and Phumla Nqakula to develop civilian oversight policies and practices at SAPS.

Naidoo was arrested in May 2022 on allegations of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice following a sting by Perumal and Bellochum. At the time the Mail & Guardian reported that Naidoo, along with the owners of KJP Traders, Kenny Govender and Matthew Pillay, were arrested following allegations that they had offered Bellochum and Perumal a R3.5 million bribe to stop the investigation into alleged irregularities pertaining to the R69million SAPS tender to supply furniture to police offices across the country.

Bellochum and Perumal's names are among those that have featured prominently in evidence before the Madlanga Commission in recent months. Witnesses, including senior employees at IDAC, have alleged that the two abused their powers by unlawfully detaining complainants, falsifying witness statements, torturing and even assaulting suspects. Mothibi, two months ago, suspended both Bellochum and Perumal and announced a basket of reforms to clean up IDAC.

Perumal is now believed to be on the run avoiding arrest. News24 reported yesterday that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, which is an anti-corruption unit within the NPA, had called on Perumal to hand himself over after he failed to attend a planned meeting to take a warning statement from him. Its investigators had travelled to the Eastern Cape to meet with him. He was a no-show.

Following the revelation at Madlanga Commission and the subsequent suspensions of Bellochum and Perumal, Naidoo has now approached the Regional Court in KuGompo City to have his matter postponed to December to allow him time to approach the NPA and IDAC to find out if his case was one of those under review. He made the approach two weeks ago on September 18. On Monday, he followed this up by making a submission to Mothibi, pleading with him to investigate his case, how it was handled by both the two investigators and the prosecutor, Richard Chabalala.

Chabalala, of Palm Ridge in Gauteng, has also been suspended following allegations that he demanded R400,000 from a Limpopo businessman to make a fraud case disappear.

In both his affidavit to court and submission to Mothibi, Naidoo argues that the same investigative team that investigated his case – Bellochum and Perumal -- was involved in cases that are now under scrutiny, including matters linked to the arrests of the National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola and Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo. Charges against Masemola and Khumalo have since been withdrawn.

“I respectfully submit that, in-so-far as these allegations relate to investigators or witnesses in my matter, they are matters which should be properly investigated and considered before my case proceeds further. Furthermore, I understand that the NPA Office for Ethics and Accountability has raised concerns regarding payments allegedly made by a businessman to the prosecutor in this matter, advocate Chabalala,” wrote Naidoo in a submission to Mothibi, dated September 28. “In light of the above, and through my new legal representatives, I intend approaching the National Director of Public Prosecutions to establish whether this matter forms part of matters currently under review pursuant to the IDAC Reset Programme.”

During his court appearance at KuGompo City on September 18, Naidoo requested his matter be postponed, so as to allow him time to get a new legal representative and to brief his counsel. He also questioned whether Chabalala, the prosecutor in his case, had handled his docket in a manner that is compliant with the NPA policies. He repeated this in his submission to Mothibi, claiming tom have personally witnessed Chabalala leaking a docket to a journalist during his court appearance in July 2024.

He is now asking from the NPA whether that conduct was authorised and whether it complied with the prosecuting authority’s directives and legal requirements on docket confidentiality.

“(I request) that the relevant concerns and information be placed before the NPA and that the matter be considered for review as part of the IDAC Reset Programme, alternatively that I be afforded a reasonable opportunity to make formal representations to the NDPP in this regard,” Naidoo pleaded with Mothibi.

Speaking to The Coastal from his KuGompo City home this week, Naidoo said he believes that his troubles with the two investigators -- Bellochum and Perumal -- started when he formally reported Bellochun and Nico Williams to the then provincial commissioner, Mpumelelo Landu, over an alleged misuse of SAPS vehicles.

At the time Bellochum was stationed at the Duncan Village police station. Around that time, Naidoo was also involved in a separate high-level investigation into members of Bellochum’s family, which he says ended in their conviction and imprisonment for fraud and corruption linked to extortion and the unlawful taking of money from social grant beneficiaries.

Bellochum, Perumal, the NPA could not be reached for comment.