Court rulings affect frozen bank accounts of businessman Thoshan Panday and ex Correctional Services Finance officer Patrick Gillingham

AN ex-government department chief financial officer (CFO) and a controversial businessman linked to State Capture have received mixed outcomes in their attempts to access bank accounts frozen by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Patrick Gillingham, the retired CFO of the Department of Correctional Services, and KwaZulu-Natal businessman Thoshan Panday have approached the high courts in Pretoria and Pietermaritzburg, respectively, seeking access to their frozen accounts.

The accounts are currently managed by a curator bonis, a court-appointed professional responsible for overseeing the financial interests and assets of individuals deemed unable to manage them themselves.

In Gillingham’s case, he brought outgoing National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, claiming he is in dire straits due to a restraint order granted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca) in July 2024.

Currently out on R20,000 bail, Gillingham faces charges related to the awarding of R1.8 billion in lucrative tenders to Bosasa, which is now known as African Global Operations. He is charged alongside former Correctional Services national commissioner Linda Mti and former ANC MP Vincent Smith, who chaired the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on Correctional Services.

Their former co-accused, ex-Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi, has entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the NPA’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac). Agrizzi was sentenced to 10 years of direct imprisonment on each of the four counts of corruption and money laundering, which has been wholly suspended for five years under certain conditions.

These conditions require Agrizzi to cooperate with Idac and provide investigators and the police with affidavits detailing the full extent of his knowledge regarding the corruption investigated by the directorate.

The criminal case against Gillingham is pending in the high court in Pretoria and is set to proceed for a full court term later this year.

Gillingham has lost control over and access to his bank accounts pending the resolution of his criminal case and a potential forfeiture order. Consequently, he is unable to use these funds to cover living expenses and legal costs.

Gillingham disclosed two immovable properties: one being the residence he shares with his life partner and the other a unit in a retirement village where his stepmother has been living alone since the passing of his father.

He also mentioned an amount of about R91,000 that was previously held by his attorney in trust for legal expenses in the criminal matter, which has since been paid over to the curator bonis.

In March of last year, the current correctional services national commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, declined to approve legal representation for Gillingham through the Office of the State Attorney, in compliance with the Solicitor-General’s 2021 policy on state legal representation.

Gillingham indicated that his attorney’s and counsel’s fees have been quoted at R25,000 per day each. When factoring in five days of preparation in addition to the trial itself, he claimed the release of funds to him by the curator bonis of R2.25 million.

Batohi objected to Gillingham's claims, stating that no confirmation of the legal fees had been provided. The quotation relied upon, fee agreement, and mandate were not annexed to his papers, nor was there any confirmation from the attorney or counsel regarding the claims he made.

“These procedural deficits also impact on the assessment of the veracity and reasonableness of the claims. I am of the view that these objections are valid and that, on the papers as they stand,” ruled Judge Norman Davis last month.

Gillingham informed the court that his only sources of income are interest earned on his fixed deposits – R24,150.45 and R2,752.10 – which accumulate to the accounts he cannot access, and R477.55 per month from an annuity policy that has already been paid out.

He listed his monthly living expenses as totalling about R25,400, which includes salaries for a domestic worker, transport, dog food, satellite television subscriptions, utility bills, retirement village rates and taxes, levies, chronic medication, and medical aid, among others.

The NDPP vigorously opposed Gillingham’s application, arguing that he failed to adequately disclose his financial position and did not fully explain how his expenses had been paid. They contended that the disclosures of assets and liabilities to the curator bonis were legally irrelevant, as Poca requires disclosures to be made to the court and not to any other person.

However, Judge Davis ordered the curator bonis to cover Gillingham’s medical aid, levies, rates and taxes, utilities, cellphone contract, and funds for his life partner.

In a related case, a full bench of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg overturned a June 2023 order that had authorised the payment of reasonable living and legal expenses to Panday, his wife Privisha, and personal assistant Tasleem Rahiman. This followed a restraining order on specified realisable property granted in March of that year.

The judges upheld the NDPP’s appeal with costs, replacing the June 2023 order with one declaring: “The application for an expenses order in terms of s 26(6) of Poca is dismissed with costs.”

“Poca establishes an elaborate mechanism designed to preserve property pending criminal proceedings and, where appropriate, to facilitate confiscation. The restraint scheme is stringent. Relief permitting access to restrained property for expenses is exceptional and tightly controlled,” reads the judgment.

Panday is facing charges of allegedly defrauding the SA Revenue Service of R7.3 million, for which he was granted R100,000 bail by the Durban Magistrate’s Court in November 2024.

In a separate matter, he has been charged with corruption, fraud, and money laundering related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he allegedly received a R47 million tender for accommodation at inflated prices due to a corrupt relationship with officials in the police’s supply chain management division.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE