SAFA ACCUSED granted bail

SAFA swindlers granted bail

Danny Jordaan, the president of the South African Football Association (SAFA), has been granted R20,000 bail after appearing in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Palm Ridge on Wednesday.

Jordaan, along with his co-accused Gronie Hluyo, SAFA’s CFO, and businessman Trevor Neethling, were each granted bail, with their passports surrendered to the court to prevent them from leaving the country.

However, Jordaan’s travel is restricted to SAFA-related matters only, and he must provide the investigation officer with his full itinerary. This development comes after the Hawks, the crime investigation unit, launched a probe into allegations of fraud and theft at SAFA between 2014 and 2018, totaling R1.3 million.

The allegations against Jordaan include hiring a private security company and a public relations firm without the SAFA board’s authorization.

The National Prosecution Authority spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane, expressed confidence in their case, and stated, “The allegations stem from SLA that was signed on behalf of SAFA by Mr. Jordaan as well as Mr Neethling who is the director of Grit Communications,” outside the court on Wednesday.

“We are alleging them as the state that agreement, they entered into what was an unlawful and unauthorized agreement and Mr. Jordaan could not sign such an agreement.

“The two authorized personnel are the Chief Financial Officer (Gronie Hluyo) as well as Chief Executive Officer (Lydia Monyepao). Furthermore, as the state, we are alleging that an amount of R1.1 million was used for his (Jordaan) personal gain where in great communication was not authorized to provide the PR communication service to SAFA.

“Therefore, such services were provided for his capacity, so it was for his benefit and not for the benefit of SAFA.”

The case has been adjourned until December 5.