Three in court for fraud
THREE suspects appeared in the Bizana Magistrate’s Court in the Eastern Cape yesterday on charges of fraud and money laundering.
In a statement, the provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, said the suspects, aged between 39 and 42, were arrested on Friday.
The matter is being investigated by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Mthatha.
She said it is alleged that in 2015 catering services were procured for a roadshow in Mzamba Cluster.
The company reportedly appointed a catering service, which was to be paid R14 000 for services rendered.
On April 30, 2015, the payment was made into the company’s account.
Mgolodela said it was later established that a further payment was made to the same service provider on the same day into a different account, which belonged to an employee from the Alfred Nzo Municipality.
This discrepancy led the municipality to take a deeper look into municipal payments dating back from July 1, 2014, to April 30, 2015, where further discrepancies were uncovered, she said.
“Two companies were double paid more than R22 000 on November 19, 2014, and more than R30 000 on April 7, 2015, respectively. The fraudulent payments are reported to have been made to the financial controller and library assistant within the municipality, respectively,” Mgolodela said. The investigation is continuing. In a separate incident in the Western Cape, a 49-year-old woman appeared in the Mossel Bay Regional Court on charges of theft and money laundering. The woman, the former accountant at a golf club in Mossel Bay, was served with a summons on August 3 by the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in George.
It is alleged that the woman stole R477 430 from the golf club in her position as the accountant.
The investigation revealed that the woman allegedly took money from the work safe and spent it on the slot machines after work.It was further revealed that she allegedly made 21 deposits into her personal bank account from the golf club.