Wealthy and well-connected prisoners in two KwaZulu-Natal prisons are allegedly being allowed to serve part of their time in private hospitals by corrupt correctional officials and doctors.
The whistleblowers include corrupt businessman Toshan Pandey, who is awaiting trial at Westville Correctional Center, and convicted murderer Rajvi, who is serving a 23-year sentence at Pietermaritzburg New Prison.・It is alleged that Mr. Soni illegally spent a long period of time in a private hospital.
In both cases, whistleblowers said that procedures allowing inmates to receive treatment at outside hospitals were circumvented, and that inmates paid the department for guard protection during their stay. claims.
Whistleblowers point to a corrupt network of prison officials working with doctors and family members outside the correctional facility to allow wealthy inmates to spend time behind bars in the relative comfort of hospital beds. I am doing it.
The allegations, which were made independently to the Mail and Guardian by people with no connection to each other inside or outside the prison, are currently being investigated by the Department of Corrections on the direction of Minister Pieter Groenewald. .
Grunewald's spokeswoman Une Olofsen said the minister was aware of the allegations as a result of the M&G's investigation and “has contacted the ministry for a response.”
Singabakho Nxumalo, a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections, said the department is “aware of the allegations raised regarding the treatment of remand detainee Thoshan Panday and is investigating them.”
Mr. Pandey, who was arrested on tax evasion charges, has not remained in jail since his bail was denied in September, instead spending almost two weeks in some of the city's leading private hospitals.
Mr Panday was also charged with extortion, fraud and corruption, along with former KwaZulu-Natal police chief Mamonye Ngobeni, and was granted bail.
The case relates to the R47 million FIFA Soccer World Cup bidding scandal in which the South African Police Force awarded his company a contract to provide accommodation during the tournament.
Mr Panday, a former business associate of former president Jacob Zuma's son Edward, was also arrested in a sting operation in 2011 after he tried to bribe the then Hawks district chief, General Johan Booysen, with R1.4 million in cash to drop the case. was arrested.
In the tax evasion case, the state alleges that Mr Panday made false tax returns to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for the purpose of either evading taxes, assisting others to evade taxes or filing false tax returns. The potential harm to Sars amounts to more than R7.5 million.
A source close to Westville Prison, where Mr. Panday is awaiting trial on tax evasion charges, said he was able to quickly obtain permission from prison authorities to be admitted to two private city hospitals.
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a mobile phone was found in Mr Pandey's cell during a search on Sunday night, October 13, and that as a result he would be sentenced to “isolation”. Ta. 30 day family visit.
Pandey was then promptly transferred from the jail to a local hospital on October 14, where he remained hospitalized until Saturday, October 19, officials said.
Officials said Panday paid about R176,000 in cash to the Department of Corrections to cover the cost of having guards guard him 24 hours a day, in three shifts, while he was hospitalized.
This is in clear violation of a court order made on October 4 when Westville Medium A head Bexisa Xulu was subpoenaed to testify regarding Pandey's previous court absences. .
The magistrate conducted an inquiry under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to find out why Pandey did not appear in court on September 26.
The magistrate asked Shrue on what basis prison regulations allow prisoners to be sent to private hospitals.
Shruh testified that Pandey was sent to the hospital because he was suffering from anxiety and depression.
The judge ordered Pandey to undergo treatment at the prison hospital. He also decided to send the records of the court proceedings to the Secretary of State and the state Director of Corrections.
Officials said Mr. Pandey was first admitted to another private hospital between September 22 and 27, which came to light during investigation.
Officials said they were angry that Panday was able to use his wealth and “connections” at a correctional facility to secure admission to a private hospital, where he guards prisoners awaiting trial. It is the responsibility of the police, not the correctional facility, he added. .
“We have also acquired Shabir Shaikh,” said another source.
(Shaikh was convicted in June 2005 of corruption and fraud charges related to his relationship with Zuma and business groups, but was controversially granted medical parole after completing two years and four months of a 15-year prison sentence.) )
“On Sunday, his cell was searched and his mobile phone was found. And on Monday, he went to a private hospital,” an official said about Pandey.
“If you get sick in prison, go to the prison clinic and see the nurse. If you need to see the prison doctor, who only comes once a week on Thursdays,” she said. “If you want to see your own doctor, you have to apply for a doctor's visit to the department head,” he said.
This can take a week, after which the doctor must sign the application and send it back to the department head for a decision. Please allow at least a week for a response.
“In case of emergency, they are taken to government hospitals in government ambulances. So even in prison, rich people are treated differently,” he said.
The official said it was “easy” for prisoners to obtain mobile phones for personal use in prison, but in the section where high-profile inmates like Pandey are being held, it was “very difficult to obtain them.” “It was difficult,” he said.
“But thanks to the money he managed to get it. It is virtually impossible for him to get a phone where it is kept in the VIP room, so he He apparently obtained the phone by bribing a senior official,” the source said.
Mr Pandey was arrested on tax-related charges in early September and has been in custody since then after a magistrate refused him bail.
The government alleged that Mr. Panday ignored bail conditions after his passport was returned to him to apply for a visa for business travel to Istanbul, Turkey, and travel to Europe. He instead used the passport he had previously reported as lost to travel to the United States.
He faces 27 counts of fraud or other tax violations for allegedly filing false value-added tax and annual income tax returns.
Mr Pandey appeared briefly in the Durban High Court on Thursday, where the case was adjourned for disclosure of documents until November 18. he was taken into custody.
Pietermaritzburg businessman Soni was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2018 for orchestrating the 2013 murder of his ex-wife's friend Bhavish Seuram, who became her boyfriend.
Soni used his wealth and influence with police officers (one of whom turned state witness against him) to make several attempts to fabricate rape and drug possession charges against Seuram. He then plotted to kill him outside the operating room.
The killing and trial shocked Pietermaritzburg's Indian community, but Soni's influence remains evident even though he has been in prison for more than five years.
In a 2018 judgment in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Judge Jacqueline Enriquez sentenced Soni to “the vendetta” after hearing evidence of the vendetta he carried out against Seuram using his own money and connections in the criminal justice system. “He was a person who thought he could buy anything with money.”
Soni was given a 30-year sentence and time to appeal his conviction, and was released on bail in 2020 while the matter was heard.
Although Soni managed to have his sentence reduced by six years, his conviction was not overturned and he was sent back to prison to continue his sentence.
Soni spent most of his time in prison in the hospital wing of the New Prison, based on a diagnosis by a well-known Pietermaritzburg cardiologist close to him, according to a letter sent by a whistleblower to Groenewald seen by the M&G. That's what it means. friend.
This same cardiologist, whose name is known to the M&G, provided medical reports that were used to arrange visits to external hospitals such as Mediclinic in Pietermaritzburg, during which Mr Soni met with his family. I was able to do that.
According to the letter, Soni said, [also] Based on a cardiologist's diagnosis, he had been in some wards of the prison since his incarceration. ”
In addition to obtaining alcohol in prison, Soni is said to have possessed at least seven cell phones, the numbers of which were provided to Grunewald's office.
The convicted murderer, who is believed to be preparing to apply for parole, has also been provided with food by his family, which is smuggled into the prison by staff.
Food was dropped off at the home of a Northdale prison hospital nurse, who allegedly smuggled it into the prison. Soni also received regular deliveries of food from prison guards.
That's not the only illegal privilege Soni is said to have enjoyed.
Executives at the new prison also helped bring a bed and television to Soni's correctional facility, and are said to have shown a willingness to quickly respond to requests for luxury goods.
In February 2023, after a new prison warden was appointed, Soni was transferred to Westville Prison for three months.
During this period, he was allowed to meet with his family, one of which allegedly took place in the senior warden's office. Soni's children were allegedly allowed into medical facilities against regulations, and family members were allowed to bring food to Soni.
The whistleblower said Soni was allegedly paid R40,000 during two visits to his family's home in Pietermaritzburg by prison staff, and Soni was later returned to the new prison.
Soni was then transferred back to the prison hospital based on a cardiologist's report who recommended putting him on a ventilator to help him sleep at night.
The whistleblower said the doctor prescribed expensive drugs to Soni that he didn't need in order to make a case for medical parole because he couldn't afford the treatment.
A large quantity of mobile phones, SIM cards, drugs and cash were seized from prisoners during a raid on Westville Prison in August led by the head of the National Correctional Service, McGothy Tobackgale.
