The Madlanga Commission is seeking subpoenas for four months of medical and hospital records for North West businessman Suliman Carrim after whistleblowers alleged he was seen shopping and dining in Cape Town.

Evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson told the commission on Wednesday that the records were needed to test the medical evidence Carrim had submitted in support of his continued absence from the inquiry.

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He said the proposed subpoenas would cover the medical professionals who had treated Carrim and the hospitals where he had reportedly received care. The commission wants details of his hospital admissions, medical consultations, and examinations.

Chaskalson said the medical information provided to the commission thus far did not adequately explain why Carrim was unable to answer questions or supply documents, even if he was not fit to appear in person.

“The doctor’s note is incomplete and problematic. He seems to have a reason for not appearing, but he does not have a reason for not answering any of the questions put forward to him by this commission,” Chaskalson said.

Carrim has previously testified before the commission but has not returned to complete his evidence because of what his lawyers have described as a serious medical condition.

Chaskalson said evidence leaders had received two whistleblower reports alleging that Carrim had recently been seen at a shopping centre in Cape Town.

“We have it from multiple sources that Carrim went to a Woolworths with an entourage and then went to a restaurant,” Chaskalson said.

He said the commission expected to receive CCTV footage relating to the alleged sighting and would make it available to Carrim’s legal team.

Chaskalson said evidence leaders also wanted Carrim to account for his travel during the past four months, including how he had travelled to Cape Town, whether he had attended social gatherings in North West and whether he remained involved in managing his business interests.

He questioned why the commission had been unable to obtain financial statements and other documents from companies linked to Carrim if his businesses had continued operating.

Chaskalson stressed that the questions were not intended to suggest criminal wrongdoing but to test the credibility of Carrim’s explanation for failing to provide information requested by the commission.

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“If he can keep his companies afloat from his sick bed, he can give us information,” Chaskalson said.

He added that the commission remained prepared to seek an independent medical assessment after Carrim’s legal team previously rejected such a proposal.

Carrim’s counsel, advocate Kameel Premhid, objected to the whistleblower allegations being raised publicly, saying his legal team had only been informed of them on Wednesday.

Premhid argued that the allegations should first have been formally provided in writing so that Carrim could respond before they were aired in open proceedings.

“I am now concerned that we are using the postponement application and allegations as a mechanism through the backdoor to undermine the otherwise unimpeachable medical evidence before you,” he said.

Premhid asked that the postponement application be delayed until the following Friday, saying he had been unable to obtain instructions directly from Carrim and had instead relied on information from his doctors and family.

He said Carrim had suffered a serious medical incident on 13 April and had remained under treatment since then.

Commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga questioned why information potentially relevant to Carrim’s postponement application should be excluded from consideration.

“If indeed the allegations are true, why is it that it should not in the application for a postponement not be considered?” Madlanga asked.

When Premhid argued that the allegations should have been formally particularised before being raised, Madlanga said the commission was giving Carrim an opportunity to answer them.

He noted that the commission had repeatedly sought information and documents from Carrim but had been told that his health prevented him from providing them.

“Now these allegations at face value suggest that Carrim is going on with his life. If that is so, how is it that he is unable to further such information either by himself or through others,” he said.

Madlanga directed Carrim’s legal team to file its founding affidavit and any accompanying application for parts of the matter to be heard in camera by Friday. The precise filing time was left for Chaskalson and Premhid to agree upon.

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