JB Marks municipality mayor, director nabbed for R5m fraud, theft
It was discovered that a series of payments were allegedly made from the trust into the suspects' private bank accounts instead.
The Hawks. Picture: Bloemfontein Courant.
The Hawks have arrested more senior government officials who are allegedly linked to fraudulent activities.
In the North West on Friday, the executive mayor of the JB Marks municipality and its director were arrested on charges of fraud and theft involving R5 million.
In a statement released by the Hawks’ North West branch, the investigative unit said Kgotso Moses Khumalo and Cyril Hendry appeared in the Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court.
“The arrests emanate from investigations that were conducted by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation [Unit] into a trust account where a total of approximately R5 million intended for the JB Marks municipality was deposited,” provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso said.crinve
“The funds, however, were never declared to the Auditor-General. Through investigations, it was discovered that a series of payments were allegedly made from the trust into the suspects’ private bank accounts instead.
“It is alleged that the funds in the trust were misrepresented to appear as if they were being used to pay for services rendered to the municipality, meanwhile invoices were allegedly being falsified.
“In some instances, funds were allegedly paid into service providers’ accounts for services that were never rendered, thereafter the money would allegedly be collected by the suspects.”
Rikhotso said investigations into the matter would continue and that more arrests could not be ruled out.
The case was postponed to 1 December for further investigation and the two were released on warnings and ordered to not go near the municipality and to refrain from contacting witnesses until the conclusion of the case.
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