A Cape Town businessman and company director, who was found guilty of theft and perjury of a government tender has had his conviction overturned on appeal, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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Ridwaan Rajah’s family gained public attention in 2022 when their father was kidnapped and held captive for 111 days. Police rescued him from a house in Khayelitsha just as the family was reportedly preparing to travel to Dubai to pay the ransom.
In 2023, the Hawks announced that the 47-year-old Rajah received a six-year prison sentence for theft and 12 months for perjury, wholly suspended for five years.
His company, Good Hope Plasterers CC, was fined R200 000 and also wholly suspended for five years in respect of theft.
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At the time, the Hawks detailed the reason for the conviction:
- Good Hope Plasterers CC was awarded a tender for internal and external renovations to the Parliamentary Precinct in Cape Town in 2010.
- After the renovation work was certified as complete, the Department of Public Works proposed a final account amounting to R10.8 million, which Rajah contested. He filed a notice of motion in the Western Cape High Court seeking to include an additional R500 000 in the final account.
- However, the courts found that Rajah misrepresented himself in his founding affidavit by stating that the R500 000 was an advance payment to the subcontractor, Winlite Aluminium and Doors (Pty) Ltd.
‘He deliberately put incorrect figures pertaining [to] the contract value of his sub-contractor in his founding affidavit,’ said the provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, Lieutenant Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi.
‘The order was granted and the Department of Public Works paid the said amount into the account of Good Hope Plasterers cc which belongs to the accused, in order to adhere to the court order.
‘It was later discovered that the accused did not pay the full amount over to the sub-contractor, which he never disclosed in the notice of motion proceedings, but withheld an amount of R51 903.’
He was subsequently convicted and sentenced on 10 July 2023.
However, the Cape Town High Court overturned the sentencing on 12 September after it was revealed that the original trial was dotted with several errors, including mishandling of evidence and inconsistencies in the legal findings.
Rajah raised more than 20 grounds of appeal, including ‘findings of fact or ruling of law in which the magistrate at the time of conviction erred and misdirected herself’.
‘During oral argument, the State Prosecutor readily conceded that she failed to prove the theft charge per the charge sheet. She conceded further that the State had abandoned proving the full ambit of count two of the theft charge as early as the close of the State’s case in the trial,’ the judgement read.
‘Is this a material error and misdirection of the Regional Court? The answer has to be in the affirmative. The Regional Court found the appellants guilty of a crime that the State could not prove, let alone prove beyond a reasonable doubt.’
As a result, the court decided that the original conviction for theft and perjury could not stand. The fines imposed on his company, Good Hope Plasterers CC, are also no longer in effect.
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Picture: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images