Following his appearance at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday, Russell Patrick Paul, the former acting CEO of the South African Football Association (Safa), was granted R10 000 bail.
Paul (64) was added as an additional accused in the fraud case involving Safa president Danny Jordaan after he voluntarily surrendered to the Johannesburg-based Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team on Wednesday morning.
According to Phindi Mjonondwane, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Johannesburg, Paul is being charged with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Paul released on bail
Paul applied for bail during Wednesday’s court proceedings, according to Mjonondwane.
“The National Prosecuting Authority has added an additional accused, Russell Patrick Paul, the former acting CEO of Safa, in the case against Danny Jordaan and three others,” Mjonondwane said.
“This follows further investigations by the South African Police Service, which linked Paul to the alleged offences currently before the court.
“It is alleged that Paul conspired with the other accused to commit fraud and theft by authorising payments to accused four [Grit Communications] for personal services rendered to Jordaan during Paul’s tenure as Safa acting CEO.”
She continued: “Among other things, he allegedly approved payments to the accused four using Safa’s funds, despite there being no contractual basis for such payments between Safa and the service provider.”
She said that because Paul had cooperated with the authorities after being told that he would be arrested and had continued to help the investigating officer throughout the investigation, the state had not objected to his bail request.
“The court granted him bail of R10 000. This development underscores the NPA’s commitment to ensuring that all individuals implicated in criminal conduct are held accountable and that justice is pursued without fear, favour, or prejudice,” Mjonondwane said.
Conspiracy to commit fraud
Following his initial court appearance, Paul’s case was rescheduled for November 21 so that he could join the other four accused in the main case, she added.
They are Jordaan (61), Safa chief financial officer Gronnie Hluyo (55), businessman Trevor Neethling (46), and Neethling’s company Grit Communications.
Jordaan, Neethling, Hluyo, and Grit are charged with three counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
The charges are related to claims of financial resource fraud at Safa totaling R1.3-million from 2014 to 2018. All defendants have been released on R20 000 bail.
The case of Jordaan, Hluyo, Neethling, and Grit was remanded during their most recent appearance in September pending the resolution of a related high court application in which the defence contests the admissibility of evidence gathered during a Hawks search and seizure operation at Safa House in March 2024.
