SACP RECEIVED CASH FROM SBV HEIST
ILLYA
There has been talk and nonsense and rumblings and sabre rattlings for some
time about the possibility of the alliances fundraising effort being
conducted in this manner - If it is true it will make the allegations
against Yengeni pale by comparison.
- Will Naidoo's claims be investigated?
- See how racial bitterness caused him to get led up the garden path.
- In the latter article, the SACDP refute the allegation and then defiantly
ask for names. They infer that there are no names mentioned and threaten
dire consequences to any of their members who were found to be involved. In
the court session Perumal Naidoo has been quite forthcoming with names, one
in particular. Will they take it seriously or will it go the same way as
other "internal investigations"
Story 720661 691 words
BC-COURT-SBV
COURT-SBV By Nivashni Nair
DURBAN May 24 Sapa
SACP RECEIVED CASH FROM SBV HEIST
The SA Communist Party (SACP) received some of the R31,4-million
stolen from SBV Services in Pinetown in 1996 during South Africa's
biggest ever robbery, former company employee Perumal Naidoo told
the Durban High Court on Thursday.
Naidoo, testifying in mitigation of sentence, told Judge Brian
Galgut that he gave his share of the money to Haroon Aziz of the
SACP.
He said the money was to be used to train former Umkhonto weSizwe
cadres for work in the security industry.
The weapons stolen from SBV during the robbery were sold by a cadre
and the proceeds were also to be used for the training program. He
later found out all the money had been misappropriated.
Naidoo said fellow robber Sagren Nair met him outside the SACP
offices in Durban where he was handed a bag with money and the
stolen guns. He said he never bothered to count the cash and simply
gave it to Aziz. "Others (fellow robbers) have large houses with
pools, fancy cars, expensive jewellery, mistresses and illegitimate
children and businesses.
"My child is just as sick today as she was before the robbery," he
said.
Naidoo, who burst in to tears on several occasions, said he
participated in the robbery to get back at the company because he
was a victim of racism.
"That started the fire of hatred in me which culminated in my
present situation," he said.
He claimed that he was once was forced to pick up a hot pot of
potjiekos with his bare hands and, on another occasion, was forced
to eat a piece of braaied meat from the floor.
"These and other incidents caused hatred in me. At the time of the
robbery I occupied the post of senior security officer but I should
have been a chief protection officer," he said.
Prosecutor Anton Steynberg accused Naidoo of passing himself off as
a modern day Robin Hood using apartheid as an excuse when the real
motivation was greed.
SACP provincial secretary Smiso Nkwanyana confirmed Aziz was a
member of the provincial executive committee at the time of the
robbery but distanced the party from the training project. He said
Aziz was a member of the party until 1999 when he left for Cape
Town. He is now believed to be in Johannesburg.
"There was a security company in the process of being established
which trained MK cadres for work in the security industry but it
was not linked to the SACP -- Aziz did it as his own project," said
Nkwanyana.
He said the project failed and the cadres later went to the SACP
offices to claim back the money they paid for the course.
Galgut is expected to hand down sentence on Friday. He is also
expected to decide whether state witness Hanujayam Mayadevan, one
of the masterminds of the robbery, will receive immunity from
prosecution.
Among those found guilty were five policemen, three SBV guards, a
prominent Chatsworth lawyer and six women -- three of them sisters.
Chatsworth policemen Goolam Mustapha Dustigar, Jordan Daniel and
Sagren Soobramoney Nair, building contractor Dalliah Appalsamy, SBV
employees Colin Nayager and Perumal Soobramoney Naidoo, their
former colleague Clive Rubenderan Gounden, were found guilty on
charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Chatsworth lawyer Nagulen Gopal Pillay, Devagie Rajnarain,
Dutchninamurthi Naidoo, Cato Manor policeman Balasoorain Naidoo,
Chatsworth policewoman Munjoo Lutchmenarain, Diana Ingrid Naidoo,
Lynn Myrle Naidoo and Maduray Reddy were found guilty of being
accessories after the fact while Neethie Naidoo was convicted for
money laundering.
Meanwhile, two more policemen, who were arrested on Wednesday for
allegedly receiving some of the stolen money, appeared in the
Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
Inspector Sagren Govender, who was arrested at the Chatsworth
police station, was granted R20000 bail while Captain Afzal Razak,
who was arrested at the police provincial headquarters in central
Durban, posted R5000 bail.
SBV Services is also likely to sue the pair in an effort to recover
the money.
They are charged with corruption, defeating the ends of justice and
being accessories to the robbery.
Source : Sapa /nn/wj
Date : 24 May 2001 19:47
BC-COURT-SACP-REAX
COURT-SACP-REAX
DURBAN May 24 Sapa
SACP REJECTS CLAIMS BY CONVICTED ROBBER
The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Thursday denied that a
convicted robber in South Africa's biggest cash robbery gave his
entire share of the takings to the party.
One of 16 people found guilty of robbing a SBV Services van of R31
million in Pinetown, west of Durban, in 1996, Perumal Naidoo
earlier on Thursday told the Durban High Court that he had given
his entire share of the takings to the SACP.
Party spokesman Mazibuko Jara said: "The SACP rejects this false
statement from Perumal Naidoo with all the contempt it deserves.
Naidoo's statement is either aimed to discredit the SACP or is a
statement from a criminal who is desperate to get a lenient
sentence by justifying his crime."
Jara said for the record, the SACP never received any money from
the proceeds of any criminal act, including the 1996 SBV heist for
which Naidoo has been convicted.
"The SACP has never authorised any of its members or associates to
receive stolen money from Naidoo or any other criminal. If Naidoo
handed over any money to any individual on the pretext that this
individual represented the SACP, the SACP calls on Naidoo to name
any such individual so that the SACP can investigate and get to the
bottom of this matter," he said.
Jara said the SACP would ensure that any such individual guilty of
this would be disciplined in terms of the SACP constitution, if
they were a SACP member. They would also be handed over to the
police for criminal investigation.
Naidoo, a former company employee of SBV Services who was
testifying in mitigation of sentence, told Judge Brian Galgut that
he gave his share of the money to Haroon Aziz of the SACP.
He said the money was to be used to train former Umkhonto weSizwe
cadres for work in the security industry.
Naidoo said the weapons stolen from SBV during the robbery were
sold by a cadre and the proceeds were also to be used for the
training program. He later found out all the money had been
misappropriated.
Meanwhile, two more policemen, who were arrested on Wednesday for
allegedly receiving some of the stolen money, appeared in the
Durban Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
Inspector Sagren Govender, who was arrested at the Chatsworth
police station, was granted R20000 bail while Captain Afzal Razak,
who was arrested at the police provincial headquarters in central
Durban, posted R5000 bail.
SBV Services is also likely to sue the pair in an effort to recover
the money.
They are charged with corruption, defeating the ends of justice and
being accessories to the robbery.
Source : Sapa /shob/nn/sb
Date : 24 May 2001 21:43