The director of a company convicted on numerous counts of fraud linked to procurement fraud committed at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban, managed to have her sentencing placed on ice as she now claims she is innocent and pleaded guilty due to ill legal advice.
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With jail time winking for the sole director of a closed corporation, claimed to be part of a syndicate which was allegedly involved in multi-million fraud committed at the Chief Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban regarding the supply of medical equipment, she turned to court to have her sentencing procedures placed on hold.
Oleena Dauchand, the only member of Trestine Trading CC, asked the Durban High Court to interdict the prosecuting authority from going ahead with its sentencing next month after she and the closed corporation were found guilty on numerous counts of fraud and corruption.
Dauchand, hot on the heels of her conviction and a recommendation in a pre-sentencing report that she should face jail time, claimed that she had actually meant to plead not guilty to the charges. She blamed her erstwhile legal team for making her enter a guilty plea to the charges. The magistrate dealing with her case, however, did not want to accept her change of plea after her conviction.
Dauchand has instituted proceedings to overturn this refusal by the magistrate, but she argued that it would be too late to prevent harm if the sentencing overtakes the review proceedings, as she may well then already be in jail.
The applicants (Dauchand and her company) were originally charged together with several other persons alleged to have been part of a syndicate acting with common purpose to defraud. The claims were investigated and various people arrested following a tip from a whistle blower.
Various members of the alleged syndicate meanwhile negotiated a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution, but Dauchand's efforts to negotiate a similar agreement were unsuccessful. While the others have meanwhile been sentenced in terms of that agreement, her and her company’s trial was separated from the others.
They faced 59 counts of fraud, 59 counts of corruption and one count of money laundering. The charges stem from 59 transactions spanning a period of two and a half years - from January 2015 to August 2017.
It relates to what the prosecuting authority allege is a fraudulent scheme. It was explained that Consulens Medical Healthcare Solutions was subcontracted within the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal, as a supplier of equipment to, among others, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital.
It was claimed that Consulens’ employees would manipulate the company’s systems to create a fictional need for the supply of items in order to replenish stock. Trestine Trading would then issue invoices for such items to Consulens.
The State’s case is that not only was there no actual need for these items, but nothing was delivered. Through collusion with representatives of Consulens, Trestine’s invoices were nevertheless paid by Consulens.
The unlawful proceeds were then allegedly shared between the applicants and Rakesh Maharaj, the now former logistics manager at Consulens. He earlier pleaded guilty to money laundering and fraud valued at more than R5.7 million and he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
Meanwhile, in April this year, Dauchand and her company issued a 15-page plea of guilty explanation to the Durban Region Court. The magistrate subsequently convicted them and the matter was postponed to allow for the preparation of pre-sentencing reports.
But three months later, Dauchand had a change of heart and wanted to change their pleas to not guilty. Although she and the company were represented by a legal team, she now claimed she acted on bad legal advice.
Dauchand said she was not in any emotional condition to tender any plea, as her mother was on her deathbed at the time. The prosecution, in turn, argued that the only reason for the applicants’ about-turn was that a prison sentence was recommended.
The high court, however, suspended the sentencing procedures pending the outcome of her review application.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za