Ridwaan Rajah, owner of Good Hope Plasterers CC t/a Good Hope Construction, has been acquitted of fraud, theft and perjury after a successful appeal in the Western Cape High Court (Cape Town).

According to the Cape Times, the matter emanates from a 2010 contract between Good Hope Construction and the Department of Public Works (DPW) to renovate buildings in the parliamentary precinct.

Goodhope Construction was required to appoint subcontractors and appointed Winlite to construct four curtain screens on the parliamentary premises.

According to court papers, there was a delay in commencing work and Winlite anticipated an increase in the price of materials and brought this to the notice of Goodhope Construction.

DPW agreed to an advance payment to cover the costs of materials that Winlite would use to construct the curtain screens.

The materials would be held offsite on Winlite’s premises. The DPW rejected Winlite’s work.

The implications were that the two screen curtains had to be dismantled, reworked, and reinstalled.

Under cross-examination, SIU investigator Samuel Adams admitted that an invoice confirmed the disputed payment was for off-site materials.

He added that had he been aware of this document at the outset, the investigation would not have been pursued.

‘The Regional Court’s failure to analyse the evidence of the first appellant and his brother before rejecting them as lies is strikingly evident,’ the court found.

‘The evidence of the first appellant and his brother were credible and consistent with each other …They consistently maintained that the DPW omitted the item for materials from the final statement of account and had thereby deducted the amount of R519 037.90 from the amount due to them. The Cape Times notes that the Regional Court’s finding that the defence raised by the appellants was all lies, is an error,’ it ruled.

Full Cape Times report