Madlanga Commission | Ramsamy says she refused to pursue ‘baseless’ case against Lushaba

Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) State Advocate, Drushantha Ramsamy, says former IDAC head Senior Advocate, Andrea Johnson, wanted her to implicate Crime Intelligence Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Major General Philani Lushaba, in a housebreaking case, but she refused.

Ramsamy continued her testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Monday, revealing that the case, opened at the Villieria Police Station, in Pretoria, was allegedly baseless as no witnesses were recorded.

Ramsamy told the Commission that Lushaba’s case was treated differently from those of his six co-accused colleagues during their bail hearing after they were arrested over the alleged irregular appointment of Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, within Crime Intelligence.

She said Lushaba was ordered to return to work, while the other accused remained suspended and were subject to bail conditions.

Ramsamy said she was subsequently removed from the investigating team after expressing the view that the magistrate had already made a ruling that had to be followed.

She added that officials had found that suspending Lushaba would violate his rights as an employee.

Ramsamy said some IDAC officials went into “panic mode” when Lushaba returned to work, and she was then asked to pursue him in another matter, a request she refused.

“When Mr. Lushaba did infact go back to his office, there was great panic amongst Mr. Perumel, Advocate Johnson, and Mr. Padayachee, to a point where they wanted me to do a Section 63 application against Mr. Lushaba in the housebreaking matter and I refused. I said on what basis? There is no witness from there, so on what basis would I be pursuing the matter?,” said Ramsamy.

Ramsay also testified that Johnson insisted on pursuing Crime Intelligence officials despite concerns raised by her and other IDAC officials about the strategy being used, which she said was fraught with pitfalls.

Ramsamy claims Johnson became agitated and visibly upset by their questions and decided to take over matters relating to Lushaba, Mokwele, and Crime Intelligence Component Head of Intelligence Analysis and Coordination, Major-General Nozipho Madondo.

Ramsamy further revealed that suspended IDAC chief investigator, Dylan Perumal, appeared determined to portray IDAC Senior Investigator, Mantsha Rapesu, in a negative light.

She said Rapesu was instructed to hand over his tools of trade shortly after his suspension while he was investigating political figure, Cedrick Nkabinde

Ramsamy said that, at the time, investigations had also found that Nkabinde had previously been declared an untruthful witness in a legal matter.

The Commission heard that suspended Senior Investigator, Brian Padayachee, was designated in January to lead the investigation into Nkabinde, with the docket currently gathering dust in the office of IDAC Head of Investigations and Operations, Matthew Sesoko.

Ramsamy further said Johnson ignored Sesoko’s advice to appoint a neutral investigator to handle the Nkabinde investigation and instead assigned it to Padayachee.

“And Mr. Sesoko said that he doesn’t think that anyone from IDAC or Mr. Perumel’s team should be put in charge of the investigation. He suggested that a neutral IDAC investigator must handle the matter. It was at that point that Advocate Johnson said Mr. Padayachee will handle the investigation,” said Ramsamy.

Ramsamy also told the commission that she once overheard a phone conversation between Johnson and Nkabinde, during which Nkabinde asked about the progress of investigations into Crime Intelligence officials.

She responded that the investigation was going well.

During her own testimony, Johnson told the Commission that Nkabinde was assisting IDAC as an intelligence source in its efforts to address alleged criminality within Crime Intelligence.

Meanwhile, National Coloured Congress (NCC) Leader and Member of Parliament (MP), Fadiel Adams’, testimony has been postponed to 19 August after the Commission received his statement late on Sunday night.

Adams told the commission that he only managed to put his statement together on Sunday because,  as he put it, he has a “problematic laptop”.

The Commission’s evidence leader, Advocate Matthew Chaskalson, said it issued a rule 3 notice to Adams ordering that he file a statement as far back as October last year, in addition to having frequent correspondence with him over the matter.

Adams told the commission that because his laptop is often in for repairs or freezes, he only became aware of the Commission’s notice three months ago.

Commission Chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, put it to Adams that he was not taking the Commission seriously.

Adams urged the commission to confirm with Parliament the challenges he says he faces with his laptop, adding that he was not making any excuses.

Written by: Odirile Rabalao