Nafiz Modack trial: Court hears details of intimidation, extortion & Booth murder attempt
The trial against alleged underworld crime boss Nafiz Modack and 14 other accused this week centered around charges of kidnapping, intimidation and extortion.
Nafiz Modack (left, in blue jacket and his 14 co-accused appeared in the Western Cape High Court on 8 May 2024. Picture: Carlo Petersen/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - The trial against alleged underworld crime boss Nafiz Modack and 14 other accused this week centered around charges of kidnapping, intimidation and extortion.
Modack and his co-accused face 124 charges in the Western Cape High Court related to various crimes, including the murder of top cop, Charl Kinnear, and the attempted murder of prominent defence attorney, William Booth.
An asset manager, who can only be identified as "Mr C", last week took the stand as a State witness to implicate one of Modack's accused, Jacques Cronje, in an apparent extortion scam.
Mr C testified that he fell victim to death threats and extortion after a high-risk investment went wrong in 2019.
He told the court that he was introduced to a client, Shanil Maharaj, who made a high-risk R545,000 investment with the aim to quadruple the money.
However, when the investment was lost, Maharaj started sending him threatening messages to pay back the money.
He testified that after being led to a meeting with another potential client, Cronje showed up with three other men and told Mr C that he was there to collect R2.5 million on behalf of Maharaj.
Mr C said Cronje held him against his will at a hotel in Century City before threatening him to agree to pay back the money.
Mr C told the court that after agreeing to make an initial payment of R90,000, it failed to go through and Cronje then left, insisting that the payment be made the next day.
He said after enduring numerous threats from both Cronje and Maharaj, he then enlisted the services of criminal attorney, William Booth.
Booth, whose attempted murder in April 2020 forms part of the charges against Modack, testified in court earlier this week, saying the attempt on his life was "extremely stressful".
He said he returned home after walking his dogs that morning when he saw two men at the gate while he was opening the garage door of his Higgovale home.
Booth said he then heard five popping sounds, which he soon realised were gunshots fired in his direction.
He told the court that if it weren't for his wife's car, which had been parked in front of him, he would certainly have been shot.
He detailed how Mr C sought his legal services for the extortion matter involving Cronje and Maharaj.
Booth said that due to the nature of the case, he contacted Kinnear, who was head of the anti-gang unit at the time, "to make sure the case was properly investigated".
He told the court that Kinnear went to inspect Mr C's home after Cronje allegedly threw a brick through one of his windows.
Kinnear was shot dead outside his Bishop Lavis home in September 2020.
Maharaj testified that he was in direct contact with Modack, whom he asked to collect the money from Mr C after the botched investment.
He said Mr C promised to pay back the money, but after six months of excuses, he eventually turned to Modack for help.
Maharaj told the court that a business associate who owed him money put him in contact with Modack.
Maharaj said Modack wanted a 20% service fee on the full collection of the R2.5 million and also put him in contact with two Durban police officers.
He testified that the two cops helped them intimidate Mr C to pay back the money by arranging for his arrest in April 2020.
In his testimony, Mr C confirmed that he was arrested by the K-9 Unit on fraud charges laid by Maharaj, but the charges were withdrawn after the investigation yielded no results.
The two police officers have now been subpoenaed to testify before the court next week.