Tembisa Hospital 'syndicate kingpin' hit with criminal tax charges

702's John Perlman is joined by Jeff Wicks, investigative journalist at News24.

It will be four years this August since Gauteng Health Department official Babita Deokaran was killed for her work to expose corruption at Tembisa Hospital.

In the latest development around the beleaguered hospital, a man described as the 'syndicate kingpin' has appeared in court not on charges of corruption, but for his alleged failure to pay to submit tax returns for the company Fuligenix.

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Commenting on his latest News24 investigative piece on the hospital saga, Jeff Wicks declares that they call Stefan Govindraju a kingpin because 'that's exactly what he is'.

The 36-year-old businessman is a central figure in the R2.3 billion Tembisa Hospital procurement scandal, Wicks says.

Sketching Govindraju's background, the journalist reminds us of the findings of an SIU report two years ago which linked him to 56 shell companies which were simultaneously billing Tembisa Hospital.

"At first these companies were helmed by proxy directors and as soon as we started exposing them, they resigned, and within 48 hours Mr Govindraju appeared on our radar because now HE was in charge of 56 companies."

Jeff Wicks, Investigative Journalist - News24

When News24 heard that the 36-year-old businessman was before court on tax-related charges, some more digging resulted in the discovery that he was involved with five other entities which predate the proxy networks.

"That takes his total haul from Tembisa and other hospitals to close to R500 million in the space of four years - quite remarkable."

Jeff Wicks, Investigative Journalist - News24

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview, and click here to read Wicks' detailed report