Retired Durban doctor, 85, pleads guilty to fraud

Retired Durban doctor Eric van der Veen, 85, was on Friday convicted of two counts of fraud for signing death certificates — which were then used in multimillion-rand insurance claims — without physically examining or seeing the bodies.

He was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.

While Van der Veen only got R1,000 for his services, the death certificates were subsequently used in what is alleged to be fake insurance claims — one for R6m and the other for R30m.

Van der Veen — who retired earlier this year after working as a general practitioner first in Port Elizabeth and then, from 1985, in Durban — was arrested along with Emmanuel Ponnan, his girlfriend Merlen Munusamy and director of Isikhova Funeral Services Sifiso Gebala.

On Friday, when the matter was called before Durban regional court magistrate Sharon Marks, Munusamy, who was out on warning, was absent from the dock. Her legal representative said she was in New Zealand because her husband was very ill.

Marks issued a warrant for her arrest and adjourned the matter until next week.

Prosecutor Roshiela Benimadho then applied for Van der Veen to be tried separately, saying the state had entered into a plea bargain arrangement with him and his legal representative advocate Paddy Prior.

The agreement had been sanctioned by the investigating officers and two complainants, Discovery and Momentum, Benimadho said.

Van der Veen sat in the dock, his walking cane propped against his leg, as the agreement was read out. In it, he admitted he had signed death certificates for Emanuel Ponnan and Ha San Kazi, indicating they had died of natural causes — in the case of Kazi, from pneumonia related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the case of Ponnan, he said he had signed it at Isikhova’s premises, and in the case of Kazi, he had signed it at the gate of Plantations Estate in Hillcrest, where he lives.

He admitted he had misrepresented to the department of home affairs that he had examined the bodies. He was paid R500 for each of the certificates by the funeral home.

He had signed the death certificates during the height of the pandemic and during the lockdown. It was commonly known and accepted that people with comorbidities and the elderly were at a significantly higher risk of serious illness or death. Because of this, he had not examined the bodies.

Van der Veen said he had no knowledge of any insurance claims. 

“Now that he has been informed of what later transpired (without his involvement), he accepts he should have been aware of the possibility these death certificates could have been used in fraudulent activity.

“It was only when he was visited by Mr Johannes Paulus Mouton, a forensic investigator from Discovery, that he was made aware of the alleged fraud that had been perpetrated by other people,” the statement read.

Van der Veen was a well-regarded and respected citizen and he “deeply regrets the error” which has caused him and his family severe embarrassment and shame.

The agreement listed the aggravating factors as being that Van der Veen was in a position of trust within the medical fraternity and that the departments of health and home affairs relied on accurate death records, particularly at a time of a public health crisis.

False death certificates also enabled fraud, which had an overwhelming impact on the insurance industry.

In mitigation, Van der Veen said he had “come clean” when confronted by Mouton and had shown genuine remorse. He was a first offender and was in extremely poor health, suffering from heart and vascular issues.

While the plea and sentence agreement recorded a sentence of three years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for three years on each count, magistrate Marks questioned “what is the point of having two suspended sentences”.

The parties all agreed an appropriate sentence was eight years, wholly suspended for five years.

Marks, remarking on Van der Veen’s age, said she doubted he would repeat a similar offence “but this will hang over your head for eight years, serving as a deterrent not only to you but a general deterrence”.

She noted Van der Veen had received a “paltry R500” for each certificate “had not done this for the money” and had played open cards and shown contrition.

Van der Veen is expected to testify at the trial of his former co-accused.

In May, TimesLIVE reported the alleged partner of Ha San Kazi had launched a high court application to reclaim his ashes from a local crematorium.

Nasneem Ahmed claimed the Clare Estate Umgeni Hindu Crematorium Society had refused to release the ashes to her.

But crematorium president Pradeep Ramlall, successfully opposing the application, cast doubt on whether Kazi was even dead. He said the cremation certificate presented by Ahmed was for a woman cremated more than 40 years ago, in 1975.

He said Kazi had left his entire estate, including a R30m life policy to Ahmed and the Destiny Trust of which Ahmed and others were beneficiaries and there was ongoing litigation between her and Momentum Life over this.

“I am given to understand there is also a further complaint by Sanlam regarding a claim made in respect of an insurance policy taken over Ha San Kazi,” Ramlall said.

TimesLIVE