Home Affairs official to appear in Free State court
It is alleged the 46-year-old official facilitated fraudulent IDs for foreign nationals at a R10 000 fee.
A 46-year-old Department of Home Affairs official is expected to appear in the Lindley Magistrate’s Court today for alleged corruption.
He was arrested on Friday by the Bethlehem-based Serious Corruption Investigation detectives.
The suspect is alleged to have facilitated fraudulent identity documents for foreign nationals at a fee of R10 000.
His arrest is in connection with Bangladeshi Saddam Hussein (22) who was arrested in April, for aiding and abetting another foreign national to obtain a South African ID.
Hussein, who was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the Kroonstad Magistrate’s Court on June 24 for a separate fraud case relating to identity documents, will be back in the Lindley Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.
It is expected that he will appear alongside the Home Affairs official on what will be the latter’s second appearance.
Free State head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, has applauded the detectives for their relentless efforts to root out corruption involving fraudulent identity documents.
“We are coming after all officials involved in this scheme. Having undocumented immigrants has negative economic and security implications for the country and is thus a serious crime,” Bokaba added. – SAnews.gov.za
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