The two academics who helped with Chippy Shaik’s thesis will face charges of serious misconduct within the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s internal judicial system, the Sunday Times reported.
The paper also said Shaik has admitted he is moving to Australia.
The charges against the academics involve a R2,4-million government research contract about which the university knew nothing.
Viktor Verijenko stands accused of claiming, without authority, that he and his closed corporation, Veryitech, were agents of the university to secure a major contract with Spoornet in 2003. The other academic, Sarp Adali, approved the contract, again without authorisation, the paper reported.
The Citizen reported this week that it was in possession of documents showing that Verijenko made several payments to Shaik around the time he was registered as a supplier to Armscor.
This follows reports that “more than two-thirds” of Chippy Shaik’s 2003 PhD in mechanical engineering from the then-University of Natal had been plagiarised and that Verijenko and Adali were also being investigated.
Verijenko had earlier told the Sunday Times that Shaik’s work was of a high standard and worthy of a PhD.
Also, Shaik’s thesis had three missing pages and he was apparently awarded his doctorate in spite of this, according to the Citizen. “Clearly the thesis was never even looked at properly by any academic, and the missing pages show this is the case,” it quoted one university academic as saying.
Both Verijenko and his wife, Belinda, also a university employee, have resigned from their jobs through email correspondence from Australia.
A university tribunal is to decide whether to strip Shaik of his doctorate.
Chippy, brother of fraud convict Schabir Shaik, was the government’s former head of acquisitions and left the Department of Defence under a cloud amid widespread allegations about his role in the arms deal.