WeeklySA_AdminBREAKOUT: Court hears that varying amounts cash up to R150 000 were paid some of the prison officials
By Lucky Nkuyane
A state witness testifying about Facebook serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester’s escape today revealed riveting details about what had transpired before his breakout in May 2022.
A state witness from the Free State Police’s Organised Crime Unit is testifying in the bail application of suspects accused of aiding and abetting Thabo Bester to escape.
The witness, who may not be named now, said Katlego Bereng’s body, which was burnt inside Cell No 35 in Broadway, at the Mangaung Prison, was placed in a trolley dustbin before it was taken to Bester’s cell.
The body was allegedly brought inside the premises of the Mangaung Prison on April 29 2022 by Accused No. One, Seneho Matsoara, whilst driving a hired vehicle by Zolile Sekeleni, the father of co-accused Dr Nandi Magudumana.
Matsoara gained entry to the premises with Bereng’s body without being searched. Later it was placed in Cell No 35 by him and Lipholo before it was burnt as a decoy for Bester to escape.
‘Bester was handed a G4S uniform and walked out’
The witness said during the escape Bester was handed a G4S uniform and he walked out of the prison premises with co-accused Teboho James Lipholo.
Lipholo was allegedly promised R2,5 million by Matsoara but he only received R40 000, with R30 000 paid to the bank account of his wife in April 2022, and R10 000 into his account in May 2022, by Matsoara.
Matsoara brought Bereng’s body inside the prison facilities on April 29 2022 driving a vehicle hired by Sekeleni on April 27 2022 at the OR Tambo Airport. On April 29, Matsoara drove the vehicle in at 5pm when he arrived for duty.
Magudumana fraudulently claimed the corpse as the body of Zanda Moyo’s brother and claimed to be helping Moyo to have the corpse buried.
“The body was taken to the Thusanong Mortuary for the preparation of the burial and the funeral was held in Phase Two, where Matsoara got the body from,” the witness told the court.
‘Police found three bags of maize flour in casket’
He also revealed during his testimony at this bail hearing that Bereng’s body, which was claimed by Magudumana, was never buried or inside the casket, the police found three bags of 10kg maize flour.
Matsoara on April 29 arrived at G4S, at an entrance called Sally Port, which was controlled on that day by co-accused Buti Masukela. To enter Sally port, one had to have a gate pass provided only by a supervisor. The process is controlled by officials in the control room.
Matsoara did not have the gate pass to gain entry into the premises. In the van, there was a television cabinet and behind it, a bag carrying the dead body. He was not searched and he wasn’t on duty on that day.
’There was no such emergency’
“At the gate, Masukela allegedly demanded a gate pass from Matsoara and, at some point, Masukela’s operational supervisor heard about this and also demanded a gate pass after hearing that Matsoara wanted to gain entry. The supervisor got an emergency call, indicating there was an emergency at Campus. During our investigations, we found out that there was no such emergency,” the witness testified.
Matsoara went in without being searched and the vehicle went to the workshops, dropped off the television cabinet and body, and later drove off.
The body was taken by Lipholo on April 30 and placed inside a trolley dustbin. He was pretending to clean the prison yard and took it to Broadway, where Bester was kept, through an emergency door and did not use the ordinary door. This was done to avoid the search. The witness said gaining entry into Broadway was controlled by CCR monitors.
‘He disconnected the system in order to get in’
He alluded to the fact that Lipholo knew and had the expertise as a technician of Integriton, operating the cameras at G4S, and had a way of disconnecting the system in order to get in.
“Lipholo took the body through a small door leading into a dark room, which is a passage leading to the roof of the prison, and left it there. He took his trolley dustbin back out.
On 2 May 2022, Lipholo was again supposed to knock off in the evening and pretended he logged off by scanning his finger to clock off on the biometric system.
Matsoara, as a supervisor, was not supposed to work at night but, on May 2, requested a colleague to swap shifts.
‘Matsoara spoke to four people in another prison cell’
Personnel at the Block Walls gave a statement and said Matsoara went to a certain block, called Walls, and went to a prison cell holding four people and spoke to them. They said he was supposed to register his visits for inspection but did not do that. And in the middle of the night, there was an indication that there was smoke in cell 35 where Bester was kept.
Matsoara and a colleague posted on Broadway and went there to inspect Cell 35 on the first floor and a colleague went to the ground floor to inspect where the smoke might have been coming from. He said there was no smoke.
‘An inmate complained about breathing difficulties’
Later there was an incident at Walls, with an inmate who complained about breathing difficulties, and Matsoara then instructed the officer in Broadway to attend to that inmate.
The official questioned the decision and said Broadway should not be left unattended on the day in question. The official is said to have given a statement and is a witness.
On May 3, there was a notification that Cell 35, occupied by Bester, was on fire, and that the fire was attended to, and that there was an attempt to extinguish the fire in that cell.
According to witnesses, Matsoara, who was on the scene, pretended to be extinguishing the fire but while doing so, still on his cell phone call.
The other officials from the block had to attend to the fire. After the fire was extinguished, the body believed to be that of Thabo Bester, was found and it was believed that he committed suicide.
‘Money transferred’
“According to our investigations, money was the major factor. A bank statement proved that R30 000 was first paid through the account of Lipholo’s wife before the escape.
Lipholo’s wife explained that her husband said the money should be paid into her bank account and that he knew about the money. After the escape, the other R10 000 was transferred from Matsoara’s bank account to Lipholo’s.
Tom Katlego-Motsepe Nkwana (Bester) made regular payments of R20 000, R25 000, and R30 000 to Matsoara while in prison. Matsoara received plus-minus R150 000 from April and after the escape in May 2022.
Tieho Makhotsa, one of the accused, was paid R14 000. He first received R10 000 and then R4 000 after Bester’s escape in May 2022.
* The bail application of the five accused charged with varying charges in the Thabo Bester escape has been postponed to 16 May 2023. The defence lawyer for accused 1, Senohe Matsoara, asked for a postponement.
COURT FREEZES ASSETS BELONGING TO FAMILY AND POLICE OFFICERS
RESTRAINT: AFU seeks to seize frozen properties worth R102 million belonging to 45 persons facing charges relating to fraudulently awarded contracts…
By Robert Tlapu
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has granted the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) wing Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) a restraint order against father-and-son duo who allegedly defrauded the South African Police Services (SAPS) of R102 million.
The order, granted on April 28 2023, was served on the pair by the NPA yesterday in order to recover the monies from the persons unlawfully awarded tenders and contracts by the SAPS amounting to millions of rand.
According to the NPA statement released yesterday, there were 45 persons involved whose assets have been frozen as they are facing charges relating to 53 contracts that were fraudulently awarded to 26 companies.
The state has alleged Kishene Chetty and his father, Krishna Chetty, effectively owned and controlled companies allegedly unlawfully awarded contracts by the SAPS.
In order to get the tenders, the father-and-son duo submitted fraudulent Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBB-EE) certificates. Some members of the SAPS Supply Chain Management division allegedly colluded with the Chetty family to defraud the SAPS.
The restraint order was for the seizure of any benefit the implicated individuals may have derived, received or retained from the two open tenders. The written price quotations were sourced from companies controlled by father and son, but having other people fronting as sole directors.
Justice Mlotshwa found the implicated individuals to have acted collusively in making false and fraudulent misrepresentations in their tender bid to the SAPS, as a result of which two national tenders, valued at R59 million and R29 million plus 48 contracts worth R9.8 million, which fell under the R500 000 threshold, were awarded.
“The two-year tender was awarded in August 2017, which was valued at R30 million to supply leg irons and handcuffs, procurement of large quantities of toners, building repairs and renovations, procurement of TV sets, recording devices, telephones, repairs to SAPS vehicle fleet, stationery, plumbing and electrical, gardening services, procurement of a million rand forklift, serving of SAICO spray booth etc”, said Sindisiwe Seboka, the NPA Investigation Directorate spokesperson.
The R59 million tender (marking case) was for the branding of the SAPS fleet vehicles. One of the companies that were awarded contracts had a white woman listed as the sole director who allegedly misrepresented herself to be an African female.
Vatika was a 100% white female-owned, and the latter did not meet the requirements to be exempted as a micro-enterprise because it had, at the time, an annual total revenue of more than R38 million for the year 2018.
After receiving payments from the SAPS in relation to the tenders, Vatika, Kgotho and Isimbali laundered most of the funds to other companies beneficially owned by Kishene and Krishna Chetty. A total of R59 million was paid to Vatika and Kgotho companies, despite that the fact that the financial implications of the tender were only R50 million, inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Both the SAPS and South African Revenue Services (SARS) allegedly suffered actual financial prejudice, as several of the 26 companies were registered as VAT vendors but misrepresented to the SAPS that they were “NOT VAT VENDORS”. In so doing they allegedly eluded to pay VAT and Companies Income Tax (CIT) to SARS. The accused are facing prosecution and will appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on December 6 2023.
“The NPA frowns upon such alleged concerted criminality and will continue in the fight to get rid of government corruption. We will not hesitate to use our asset recovery powers to reclaim the State. The obtaining of the restraint order has been made possible by full cooperation and collaboration between the SAPS, ID and AFU”, said Advocate Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba from the AFU.
In a related matter, the AFU obtained a freezing order on May 21 2020 on accounts that acquired credit balances and interests from unlawful proceeds. The bank accounts were instrumentalities of the offence of fraud and/or money laundering. The AFU viewed the deposits into four service provider companies’ bank accounts as another looting of state coffers.
The tainted bank accounts were subject to a preservation of property order granted by Justice Tuchten of the Gauteng High Court on December 18 2018, where he ordered that “all accounts should be placed under the control of FNB and Standard Bank”. In April and May 2022, the banks deposited R8.9 million into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA), which was used to bolster the work of law enforcement.
Acting Justice Barnard, when granting the forfeiture order, remarked that he was convinced that all the four service provider companies were involved in a well-orchestrated scheme to defraud the police, and to launder the money to ensure that the origin thereof was not detected. The four companies failed dismally to provide any proof of any services they had rendered to the police.
Published on the 98th Edition
