Gauteng Health officials and their girlfriends raked in luxury cars and cash as payoffs from alleged kingpin Stefan Govindraju during the Tembisa Hospital grand looting spree, show court papers filed as part of an asset seizure application in the Gauteng High Court last week, reports News24.
The documents revealed Govindraju’s plans to plead guilty to a string of crimes, including using jewellery and vehicles – a McLaren, a Mercedes-Benz S63 and G63, and a Ferrari, among others – to buy off senior officials.
The asset seizure application was unopposed by Govindraju in the virual proceedings and a final order was granted, forfeiting, to the state, multiple assets believed to be the proceeds of crime – properties worth more than R62m, an R814 000 Land Rover Sport, and a 2019 Ford Mustang GT worth R599 500.
Other assets included an investment with Sanlam Private Wealth with an estimated current balance of R22m.
The deal was in line with the draft plea in which Govindraju consented to a final restraint order over his assets and agreed to the appointment of a curator bonis to take control to satisfy a confiscation order of R100 559 000.
The state told the court that a plea and sentence agreement had been concluded in principle but had not yet been finalised before a criminal court.
The draft agreement records that Govindraju’s co-operation with the NPA, the SIU and the investigating officer would result in him being sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for fraud, with eight years suspended for five years.
He would also be sentenced to seven years for money laundering and seven years for corruption, all sentences running concurrently.
Luxurious bribes
According to the court documents, Govindraju would further admit he paid for international flights and accommodation and provided spending money for people he didn’t know on “instruction”, paying dealerships directly for various vehicles and then parking the cars at specific points where they could be collected later.
“He cannot account for who took physical possession thereof but is aware that some vehicles were given as gifts to girlfriends,” the papers read.
Govindraju (37) was arrested last month and appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Palm Ridge, where he was granted R200 000 bail.
In 2022 he was exposed as the brains behind a network of 54 shell companies, clinching R600m in dodgy deals from Tembisa Hospital and ranking him among the largest beneficiaries of the R2.3bn stolen from the facility.
He was only stopped after assassinated Gauteng Health Department whistle-blower Babita Deokaran reported anomalous spending patterns.
An SIU investigation subsequently found links to 98 fake firms engaged in simultaneous trade with Tembisa Hospital in a report which identified Govindraju’s web of entities as one of nine syndicates looting the facility.
The draft plea detailed how he first became a service provider to the hospital in 2016, as the sole director of Vuliscore, which had previously provided legitimate services to other government hospitals in Gauteng.
Between 2011 and 2018, he was the beneficial owner of 25 entities, and between 2020 and 2021, registered 39 more companies.
Relatives and friends were appointed as directors, including childhood friend Avikash Signarian, campus friend Rahoul Singh, Govindraju’s cousin, Mishen Govender, and even his mother.
Although they were the registered directors, Govindraju admitted he was effectively in control.
Signarian was Govindraju’s “right-hand man” and the only appointed director who knew the nature of the business conducted at Tembisa Hospital. He and his wife, Christine, through 10 companies, landed R30m in trade from the hospital.
Signarian apparently oversaw tender operations on Govindraju’s behalf from about 2019, with bank statements corroborating that he received millions in profit from the Tembisa enterprise.
“However, these funds were largely depleted through substance abuse and financial irresponsibility,” the draft read.
The draft described how Govindraju’s company database enabled him to manipulate the hospital’s procurement process. He created an electronic database containing information about each company, including tax clearance certificates, standard bidding documents, quotations, purchase orders, invoices and delivery notes.
When he received a request for a quotation, he could provide quotes from three different companies in his database.
‘Already entrenched’
He would receive requests for consumables, equipment and, occasionally, construction work. After being awarded a purchase order, he would source and deliver the goods.
Payments from Gauteng Health would initially be deposited into the successful company’s bank account. Govindraju would then transfer the funds to accounts belonging to Fuligenix and Diolinx, companies in which he was the sole director, because it was easier to control money flowing through two accounts than 70 separate entities.
Govindraju admitted his relationship with hospital officials eventually became corrupt, that they expected to be “taken care of”, and that he needed to nurture relationships at the hospital. This had started with “small cash amounts of gratification”.
In April 2021, he was told that his services were no longer required, but despite being removed as a supplier, he claimed he later noticed that payments from the department continued to be deposited into his bank accounts and that there was a drastic increase in purchase orders.
He admitted he benefited from some payments made after April 2021 but maintained that these were for services he had provided before his removal.
Govindraju was later contacted by disgraced former Tembisa Hospital boss Ashley Mthunzi and another official, who, he said, instructed him to transfer money to certain bank accounts.
He said Mthunzi told him to make payments and gave him the bank account details of the beneficiaries. These payments were made between June 2021 and May 2022.
He also claimed he was ordered to pay for properties in Serengeti and Bedfordview, as well as luxury vehicles, with some of these allegedly being given as gifts to girlfriends.
Mthunzi, who died two years ago, was a key actor in the broader scheme.
Govindraju is expected back in court on 29 September for plea and sentencing proceedings.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Net closes in as Tembisa syndicate kingpin arrested
Tembisa officials helped kingpin score R25m in two hours