A recording of a conversation between former police station boss Hariram Badul and a gardener is now a bone of contention in Badul's trial.
|||Durban - A surreptious Scorpions recording of a conversation between former Mountain Rise police station boss Hariram Badul and a gardener at the station is now a bone of contention in Badul’s trial.
Badul, former police captain Suresh Naraindath, Yunus Khan, a former police superintendent, Patrick Nkabini, a constable, and local businessman Sigamoney Pillay are on trial facing various charges ranging from fraud and racketeering to theft and corruption.
Allegations include that Badul requested that requisition forms be filled in for police station supplies, but that instead of receiving the equipment, he received cash.
Other equipment requisitioned for the police station was allegedly taken by Badul for his personal use on his farm.
Badul and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty.
Testifying yesterday, Colonel Lucky Mchunu confirmed that during the investigating by the Scorpions into the alleged misadministration at the Mountain Rise police station in 2009, he had several conversations with gardener Msigaphansi France Bhengu. Bhengu agreed to tape a conversation he would have with Badul.
On November 17, 2009, Mchunu said, he placed a recording device, no bigger than a cellphone, in Bhengu’s pocket. Bhengu then went to Badul’s house where the two had a discussion.
When Bhengu returned, he told Mchunu that a discussion had taken place between himself and Badul about television sets, and Badul had said that Thami Shezi needed to “disappear so that investigators could not get to him”.
Shezi owns the Umnotho Wezwe Trading Enterprise, a company on the SAPS service-provider database.
“Bhengu said that Badul had expressed his concern about the investigation, and that he didn’t have much faith in Stanley… Stanley had no backbone,” Mchunu said.
Stanley Naidoo, who is under the State witness protection programme, testified against Badul and his alleged cohorts earlier at trial and will be granted indemnity from prosecution should the court be satisfied with his testimony.
Naidoo worked in the supply chain management department at the station, under Naraindath’s immediate command, when Badul was appointed commander in January 2007. In return for all the “errands” he ran, Badul made sure Naidoo got incentive bonuses every year.
Mchunu confirmed yesterday that the recording was downloaded on to a CD, but was not immediately entered into the SAPS exhibits register because of the “sensitive nature of the investigation”.
The trial continues.
Daily News