Hawks bust housing theft syndicate in Mpumalanga

A housing theft syndicate has been bust by the Hawks in Mpumalanga, after a third suspect was arrested and held in custody last week.

The syndicate is accused of selling repossessed and RDP [Reconstruction and Development Programme] houses without the owners’ permission, and pocketing the money into a business trust account.

Estate agent Helda Kruger (51) was remanded in custody by the Middelburg Commercial Crime Court on Friday (14 October) on charges that she fraudulently sold RDP houses to the value of R100 000.

She joins two other suspects, Fotoboy Makua (55) and Annica van Staden (46), who have since been released on bail. The suspects are to appear in court next Wednesday (26 October).

Modus operandi

In a statement issued by the Hawks, it is alleged that on 24 June 2014, Kruger advertised RDP houses for sale in Middelburg’s Tokologo Section on behalf of Housing First Property CC.

“The offer to purchase indicates that Housing First CC is the seller of the properties [which were] registered in the name of Annica van Staden. She sold the property to the complainant for R100 000 and further requested the buyer to transfer the money into the business account of Foto Security Services,” reads the statement.

As an estate agent, Kruger should have known that a property can only be transferred and registered in the name of the buyer once the conveyancing attorney has received payment into a trust account, says Hawks spokesperson Dineo Sekgotodi.

“The rightful owner of the property did not give anyone permission or mandate to sell the property.”

Delays

Although the alleged offences date back to 2014, they are only now coming before court, due to fact that the original complaint was withdrawn before later being revived and then handed over to the Hawks. Another reason for the delay is that one of the main suspects could not be located.

In 2021, the police appealed to the public for information on the whereabouts of Van Staden, who was later tracked down and arrested before being released on bail.

Sekgotodi says there are about 50 complaints against the three suspects, some involving the sale of vehicles without the permission of the owners.

The most serious complaint relates to the fraudulent advertising and sale of homes without permission from the owners and pocketing money into the estate agent’s business trust account.

Syndicates

Human rights organisations such as the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation have argued for years that criminal syndicates are buying repossessed homes for next to nothing, with the connivance of sheriffs, crooked lawyers, estate agents and ‘investors’.

This theft is then laundered through the courts, where dispossessed homeowners are evicted from their properties with fraudulently obtained eviction orders.

Those who refuse to leave are then arrested for trespassing on their own properties – something the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation is lobbying to have expunged from the law books.

It most cases, the legal process commences with a claim that the homeowner is in arrears, and the bank rushes to court for a default (undefended) judgment.

Consumer activist and lawyer Leonard Benjamin says a large percentage of home repossession cases coming before the courts involve fictitious arrears claimed by the banks, often fattened by admin and unapproved (‘untaxed’) legal fees or improperly sold home insurance policies.

Every time the banks adjust interest rates, they effectively extinguish any arrears by consolidating all outstanding debt owed by the homeowner, explains Benjamin in this article.

To continue to claim arrears plus the consolidated debt is tantamount to double-dipping or charging twice for the same thing.

Judges who allow repossessions to take place in such circumstances are having the wool pulled over their eyes by lawyers representing the banks, says Benjamin.

NOW READ: Community irked by increase in electricity infrastructure vandalism

This is a developing story.

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission.
Read the original article here.