Alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, is set to face yet another criminal trial, this time for allegedly bribing a convicted top cop.
The man accused of plotting to kill Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) commander Charl Kinnear appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court yesterday where he faces over 50 charges of corruption.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says it was the state’s case that Modack paid former Cape Town Central Police Station Commander, Brigadier Kolindren Govender, more than R146 000 in gratuity.
“When the trial resumes, Senior State Advocate Louis van Niekerk will inform the court that a 2012 AMG Mercedes Benz was found in possession of car dealer and Modack’s business associate, Nazeem Saait, on 28 December 2012,” says Ntabazalila.
“Brigadier Govender instructed his subordinate who was the investigating officer in the stolen vehicle case, Warrant Officer Quintus Share, not to hand over a copy of a founding statement of the criminal case to Warrant Officer Altman Slabbert of the SAPS Paarl Vehicle Identification Section.
“He instructed Slabbert to leave the Mercedes-Benz at the said premises and not to seize it and that the matter has already been investigated by his office. The vehicle was never recovered after his interference.”
He says on 6 August 2013, Saait, driving a black Merc, was arrested on Main Road in Woodstock during a high-speed chase with cops.
“Saait was not booked into the Woodstock SAPS cells for the reckless and negligent driving and riotous behaviour following Brigadier Govender’s intervention.”
And between November 2011 and August 2013, Modack allegedly paid bribes which ranged between R1000 and R6000 to Govender.
In 2019, Govender pleaded guilty to 51 charges of corruption, admitting that a corrupt relationship existed between himself and Modack and his mother Ruwaida.
In May 2018, Govender along with former police commissioner Arno Lamoer, and former brigadier Darius van der Ross was convicted of corruption, after accepting “loans” from businessman Saleem Dawjee.