Court clears Msunduzi’s Perumal

Durban - Msunduzi Municipality’s former head of human resources, Kevin Perumal, can now get on with his life after being cleared of fraud charges in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court.

His seven-year legal battle ended last week when magistrate Chris van Vuuren discharged him, finding that the case against Perumal, 48, had been “based on sand and not cement”.

Perumal was charged with fraud in August 2006 for allegedly submitting fraudulent subsistence and travel claims to the municipality amounting to R30 000 between October 2003 and July 2006.

It was alleged that he claimed double for certain trips, inflated distances travelled and claimed expenses for trips he had not undertaken.

Perumal was suspended from the municipality, but a disciplinary ruling in October 2011 cleared him of all internal charges.

However, he did not return to the municipality and was effectively suspended on full pay until his contract ended last August.

He said on Monday that when he woke up on Friday, a day after his acquittal, he felt vindicated and free.

Perumal said that although he knew all along that he was innocent, it was a relief to hear the court say so.

He alleged the charges were due to a vendetta against him.

The Mercury

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