From right, James Ramanjalum, Ramahlapi Mokwena, Maricha Joubert, Nolan Prithiviraj, Kumarasen Prithiviraj, Lorette Joubert, Salamina Khoza, Kishene Chetty and fellow accused (not in frame) stand in the dock in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, 8 February 2022.
Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed.
James Ramanjalum, the alleged crooked cop facing procurement corruption charges involving R193-million, who “suspiciously” communicated with now National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID) head Andrea Johnson after his June 2020 arrest, is accused of spying on witnesses in his criminal cases.
Ramanjalum, the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) former national head of supply-chain management who held the rank of brigadier, will return to the Randburg magistrate’s court in April on charges of illegally accessing the movement records of a police vehicle used by officers probing his procurement graft matter. The state alleges he did this to find out who was being interviewed to build the case against him.
Ramanjalum faces a string of fraud and corruption charges in two separate court cases involving nearly R193-million.
The Mail & Guardian recently reported that Johnson, who President Cyril Ramaphosa announced as the ID’s new head on 28 February, was being investigated by the NPA for allegedly having what insiders said were “suspicious calls” with Ramanjalum shortly after his 4 June 2020 arrest.
Well-placed NPA sources told the M&G that the arresting officers and investigators failed to seize Ramanjalum’s cellphone during his arrest, and have not located it since.
Despite this, sources said Johnson was in communication with Ramanjalum, or people known to him, after his arrest, when the former knew that investigators needed the phone for possible evidence.
“So, it is strange that it would emerge almost two years later from records that Johnson knew that Ramanjalum’s phone was active after his arrest,” said a source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Ramaphosa established the directorate as a unit within the NPA in 2018 to investigate and prosecute intricate commercial crimes.
In his latest arrest, the state claims that Ramanjalum accessed the vehicle movement records in April 2019, when the investigating officers drove from the Eastern Cape to interview the former cop and other members of his division in Gauteng. Ramanjalum allegedly tracked the vehicle’s movement from November 2018 to 23 April 2019.
“[Ramanjalum] misrepresented that he required the AVL [automated vehicle locator] reports for purposes of investigations of allegations of corruption,” states the NPA’s charge sheet.
It says Ramanjalum deduced the names of four senior officers from the information sourced from the vehicle’s movements. The state said the four officers were either witnesses or assisting investigators in the probe of an allegedly corrupt R54-million tender to brand police vehicles nationally.
The names of the four senior officers are known to the M&G.
After uncovering the names of the witnesses, the state alleges Ramanjalum hacked into the SAPS’s personnel system and accessed the four officers’ personal information, including their incomes stored in the payroll files.
The witnesses’ personal information, the charge sheet stated, was seized from Ramanjalum on 4 June 2020 when he was arrested for the alleged R54-million branding graft. This case was struck off the court roll in March last year.
However, Ramanjalum is currently in custody after being arrested and denied bail in February for his alleged role in suspected R1.9-million Covid-19-related procurement graft.
He is also implicated in the R191-million fraud and corruption case that involves former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, around a 2016 contract to brand and equip Gauteng police vehicles.
Ramanjalum is facing six counts of contravening the Electronic Communications Act, together with Marcell Marney, who was a clerk in his office, and whom the state accuses of assisting his boss to access information they both did not have the “necessary authority to be in possession of”.
In addition to allegedly spying on his colleagues’ movements and illegally accessing witnesses’ personal information, Ramanjalum is also facing two perjury charges for allegedly lying in a sworn statement that a VW Polo seized from him during his June 2020 arrest was not his.
“The VW Polo … was purchased by the accused [Ramanjalum] on 29 August 2016. [Ramanjalum] paid a cash amount of R209 900 for the VW Polo and asked Autohaus Centurion to have it registered in the name of his nephew, Denver Ramanjalum. After some time [James Ramanjalum] caused the ownership of the VW Polo to be transferred to accused two [Marney], and later had the VW Polo once more registered in the name of Denver Ramanjalum,” reads the charge sheet.
“[Ramanjalum] compiled a statement under oath in the name of Denver Ramanjalum and asked Denver Ramanjalum to have the statement commissioned by a commissioner of oaths in Johannesburg. In that statement [Ramanjalum], through the instrumentality of Denver Ramanjalum, misrepresented that the VW Polo was owned by Denver Ramanjalum.
“The funds used to purchase the motor vehicle were not from any of [Ramanjalum’s] known legitimate sources of income. The accused was the real owner of the said VW Polo, but had concealed the ownership of the motor vehicle by having it registered in the name of Denver Ramanjalum,” the charge sheet further outlines, adding that the former officer intentionally lied in his affidavit that he did not own the Polo.
Meanwhile, NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga, in a recent statement to the M&G, said the authority was confident of Johnson’s integrity, and that she had supplied an affidavit explaining the circumstances regarding the calls.
“There is nothing untoward about these calls and we have full confidence in Johnson and her integrity,” Mhaga said.
“She will not conduct herself in any way unbecoming of a prosecutor, or in any manner that will bring the NPA into disrepute. She is a seasoned advocate and has not, and will not, be so careless or irresponsible to discuss a matter with any accused and has not done so at any stage of her career,” he added, saying Johnson and Ramanjalum had a professional relationship.
The Daily Maverick reported on 1 March that it had seen Johnson’s affidavit, in which she said she had been called by Ramanjalum’s daughter asking for help following her father’s arrest.
“I asked if they had somewhere they could stay and she said her brother would perhaps go to a friend’s house but that she would have to stay at home with the helper. I indicated that if she did not feel safe they were to let me know and that if they needed help with food she could let me know,” Johnson is reported to have stated.
The publication did not state why Johnson did not inform investigators of the calls two years ago, or why Ramanjalum’s children called someone with whom their father had a “professional relationship”.
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