By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Caption: Dylan Perumal, chief criminal investigator at the NPA’s directorate against corruption at the GIR Live: Global Investigations Summit in Milan (Photo Credit: GIR Live: Global Investigations Summit).
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has confirmed that suspended Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) chief investigator Dylan Perumal is in hospital.
This follows media reports over the weekend claimed Perumal had been rushed to hospital in a critical condition following an attempted suicide.
“We have been in contact with the family, and we can confirm that he indeed fell ill and is in hospital. There is no truth to the claim that he was trying to commit suicide.”
“The NPA would like to wish him a speedy recovery, and he must get back to good health. We also call upon the public to refrain from spreading unconfirmed information,” the authority said on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
Perumal has been at the centre of damning allegations at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry over his conduct as an IDAC investigator.
The underworld kingpin Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala has accused Perumal and his colleague Brian Padayachee of pressuring him into accepting a plea deal in the R228 million Medicare 24 Tshwane contract case.
Matlala testified that investigators pushed him to accept an eight-year deal, which was rejected by the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
The proposed sentence was later increased to 12 years.
He also alleged that the investigators helped draft his statement, including information he had not provided, and pressured him to give incriminating evidence against senior police officials.
The allegations strike at the heart of the Idac investigation. They raise questions about whether Matlala was being encouraged to implicate senior police officials and whether the pursuit of evidence against those figures is jeopardising the integrity of the investigation itself.