Fraud accused gets bail

Suspected fraudster Visham Panday was granted bail of R25 000 when he appeared in the Durban Regional Court on Monday.

Panday, 32, of North Beach, a director of Midnite Properties, was arrested in La Mercy on Sunday on one count of fraud.

His girlfriend was arrested with him, but she was questioned in connection with the case and released without being charged on Monday.

Prosecutor Sharon Moodley said Panday had posed as a doctor in 2009 and had promised a woman a lucrative job with his company in the US. He had also persuaded her to invest her life savings of about R450 000 in his business.

However, the woman apparently got no returns and opened a case of fraud.

Moodley said the State was relying on documentary evidence and the money paid into the bank account of Panday’s girlfriend.

The investigating officer, Warrant Officer Stephen Gouws, of the Pietermaritzburg commercial crime unit, said in an affidavit that he was not opposed to Panday’s being granted bail as his address had been verified.

“His address has been confirmed and he has given an undertaking to assist with the investigation.”

Panday’s attorney, Carl van der Merwe, confirmed that his client had been convicted of fraud earlier this year and fined R500 000.

Panday was also given a five-year jail term suspended for five years according to a plea bargain agreement with the State.

Before his conviction, Panday had been on the run from the police for more than eight years on charges relating to credit card and cheque fraud. He only returned to the country after a plea bargain agreement was negotiated with the State for a non-custodial sentence.

Van der Merwe said there was “more to the case than what was before court” and that there was civil action pending in the high court between Panday and the woman.

In his affidavit, Panday said he intended pleading not guilty to the fraud charge.

Passport

Magistrate Anita Govender granted him bail and imposed stringent bail conditions, including that Panday report to the Durban North police station three times a week, and that he surrender his passport and not leave Durban without informing the investigating officer.

The matter was adjourned to February for further investigation.

Police Captain Thulani Zwane said on Monday that the investigating team believed Panday was a brother of Thoshan Panday.

However, on Sunday, Thoshan told The Mercury that Panday was his relative but not his brother.

Millionaire Thoshan Panday is out on R100 000 bail after being charged with attempting to bribe Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen in connection with a R60-million police tender scam. - The Mercury