A set of potentially dubious emails and invoices between a travel agent and soccer boss Irvin Khoza is believed to be at the centre of the criminal complaints opened against him and singer Jennifer Ferguson by South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan.
In the latest twist in the increasingly messy saga, News24 has seen a PDF document titled "Invoices and Credit card auth" which purportedly shows an email exchange between travel agency Fli-Afrika and Khoza on April 8 this year.
This document allegedly proves that Khoza paid for flights and accommodation for Ferguson, a former ANC MP, who is accusing Jordaan of rape.
In March, Ferguson filed a rape complaint with police in Parkview, Johannesburg, against Jordaan. She accused the SAFA president of raping her in a Port Elizabeth hotel 25 years ago.
Ferguson currently lives in Sweden.
This week The Sunday Times reported that Jordaan, who has maintained his innocence, had opened a case of defamation, criminal collusion and conspiracy against Khoza and Ferguson.
The report said the case was opened because Jordaan believed Khoza had paid for Ferguson's flights and accommodation through a third party. Jordaan refused to give details.
Ferguson said her flights had been paid for by an anonymous donor.
'Defamation of character'
The PDF seen by News24 has three attachments: A "credit card authorisation", "invoice for Jennifer" and "accommodation".
A source sympathetic to Jordaan told News24 that Khoza allegedly used his personal American credit card to pay and booked the flights and accommodation through a travel agency based in the US and facilitated through Fli-Afrika.
Fli-Afrika provides tailor-made packages, mainly to premier sporting events, for customers.
The PDF supplied to News24 showed an email exchange between Khoza and the operations manager of Fli-Afrika, Imraan Camroodien.
Camroodien denied the exchange ever took place and said he did not do bookings.
"That can't be right. If someone says they have an invoice for a flight booking, that invoice is not true... If my name has been used in this then it is defamation of my character," he said.
News24 set about trying to verify whether the PDF document was authentic and found a number of worrying discrepancies.
Metadata analysis
The first was the date on the document showing the email exchange between Khoza and Camroodien: April 8. Ferguson opened the case against Jordaan on March 20, nearly three weeks before the date on the email.
Camroodien told News24 he would never ask for payment or send invoices after a trip had taken place.
"I would never take that risk. Payment happens before a tour, not after," he said.
A metadata analysis of the document also showed that the alleged email, sent to us in PDF format, was actually created using Microsoft Word. This means that the information contained in the email could have been altered, saved in a PDF format and then distributed.
Without him knowing, News24 sent Camroodien an email in order to get a reply from him. We then compared his replying email with the leaked email sent to us.
There were several typographical differences between the leaked email PDF document and the email we received directly from Camroodien. Details such as the display name, missing email addresses and the arrangement and font of the signature were inconsistent across the emails.
'Malicious prosecution'
In addition, the source was unable to provide us with the attachments indicated in the email.
Considering this, News24 approached the information with considerable caution.
Jordaan's attorney Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi told News24 that she did not know what invoices News24 was referring to and therefore could not comment on them. She would not say what evidence Jordaan had to open the criminal case.
"I can confirm that my client opened a criminal case at the Sandton police station," Mohlala-Mulaudzi said.
When approached for comment, both Ferguson and Khoza asked to be sent copies of the invoice.
Ferguson said the document was serious fraud.
She said in a statement that she had not had the opportunity to study the allegations in detail contained in charges Jordaan had made against herself and Khoza. Ferguson said the fact remains that Jordaan was facing a serious charge of rape.
"These counter-charges take the form of malicious prosecution, a legal bullying tactic that attempts to distract from the main charge of rape. This is a typical legal ploy to discredit and break down a rape witness. It is a desperate smear campaign that creates a smokescreen to distract the media, intimidate the witness and dilute attention from the rape charge," she said.
Ferguson said her motives were simple: She was fighting for justice after rape, not to bring someone down. She also said the issue was between herself and Jordaan and not anyone else.
"I have never met and do not know Mr Irvin Khoza. I have never received any form of sponsorship or payment from him in any form whatsoever and will testify to that fact in court if required. There is no conspiracy," Ferguson said.
Khoza had not responded to questions sent to him by the time of publishing.
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