President's family linked to fraud probes

The meeting between KZN Hawks boss Johan Booysen and Edward Zuma took place in June 2011 at the provincial police headquarters. According to the report, Booysen said Zuma's visit was well documented and his superiors were aware of the meeting. Booysen is quoted as saying Zuma told him he was there to elicit assistance for Thoshan Panday. 'He claimed he was a silent partner in Panday's business and had invested R900 000. He said he wanted the R15m unfrozen because he was not getting his dividends from Panday because the money had been frozen.' Booysen added: 'I refused, saying I would be party to corruption and would not go down that road. I subsequently reported the matter to my superior, Anwa Dramat. I drove up to Pretoria to discuss the matter with him. I also reported the matter to the acting Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi when he was in Durban on 5 March,' Booysen said. Full Sunday Tribune report (subscription needed)

Confirming the meeting, Zuma said he had visited Booysen to 'merely confirm that Panday was under investigation', notes the Sunday Tribune. 'Panday approached me to invest in his business and I was thinking about it and had heard he was under investigation for fraud and corruption. That's why I went straight to Booysen to find out if that was the truth. That's what happened at the meeting,' Zuma is quoted as saying. He added: 'I went to him as the head of the Hawks who was investigating Panday. I needed an answer directly from him as I had heard rumours about Panday. It's called breaking the bureaucracy,' Zuma said. Full Sunday Tribune report (subscription needed)

The Zuma family has been linked to another alleged police fraud matter. A company that allegedly used the President's brother for fronting is being investigated by the Hawks for major tender irregularities, including giving money and gifts to high-ranking officers within police supply chain management, claims a Sunday Tribune report. It says former supply chain management heads Lieutenant-Generals Hamilton Hlela and Matthews Siwundla and Major-General Stefanus Terblanche are at the centre of the Hawks investigation, which it adds say could involve more than R1bn in tainted contracts. The Midway Two group of companies, which had a decade-long monopoly of cleaning, labour and security contracts, has been at the centre of a two-year probe by the Anti-corruption Task Team. The Sunday Tribune says Daan Scholtz and his sons, Jason and Wayne, are members of the DJJ Scholtz Trust, which recently concluded a deal to sell the Midway group to President Zuma's brother Michael, ANC MP Richard Mdakane and KZN businessman Prince Brayce Mthimkhulu. In February, it was reported that Zuma had no idea he was buying the company and did not know how he could owe a portion of R64m from the soured deal. Full Sunday Tribune report