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Former Springboks superstar Bryan Habana’s father Bernard James Habana (Bernie) has been arrested for fraud.
City Press reported on Monday that police had been investigating the fraud charges for nearly five years.
Habana senior was apparently held at the Linden Police Station before appearing before the Randburg Magistrates’ Court.
He was granted R1 000 bail and the case has been postponed to a later date.
City Press reports that a police official close to the case revealed Habana senior was nabbed after investigations implicated him for allegedly pretending to be a travel agent.
A string of victims is reportedly being called as state witnesses. The officers revealed that the case was opened in April 2015.
The City Press reports that one of the victims, a woman had opened a case at the Linden Police Station after she deposited money into an account allegedly owned by Habana senior and his girlfriend identified as Mbali Mtetwa. Payments totalling R12 000 were made into this account.
This is not senior Habana’s first brush with the law. In 2018, he allegedly swindled a businessperson based in Angola of more than R1 million. He was also arrested for allegedly defrauding a Johannesburg hotel after he failed to pay his bill.
The relationship between Habana senior, who is popularly known as Bernie, and his son soured after Bryan disclosed that he fired his dad from his long-standing role as business manager in 2010 because he was stealing from him.
Bryan, who hung up his playing boots in April 2018, was part of the World Cup winning Springboks squad in 2007. He was capped more than 100 times for the national team.
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