Another fraud-accused former Cell C exec granted bail

A former executive of Cell C accused of fraud and corruption amounting to R130 million was released on R50,000 bail following his appearance at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Monday.

The 39-year-old suspect, Adriraan Pillay, was arrested by the Hawks in Germiston last Friday after a warrant of arrest was issued, according to Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu.

“It is alleged that Pillay and his co-accused, Ismail Adamjee Mohamed, 44, were both Information Technology [IT] executives at one of the well-known South African mobile network service providers.

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“They allegedly colluded with a director of a contracted entity responsible for IT, falsely inflating invoices which resulted in an actual loss of over R130 million from 2012 to 2019.

“The Hawks’ investigation ensued last year following an internal audit that was done at the cellphone company which resulted in the arrest of Mohamed last month. He was released on a R50,000 bail,” Mulamu said.

Mulamu further said Pillay’s case was postponed to 14 April 2021. The former executive will appear in court with his co-accused, Mohamed.

“The investigation is continuing on this matter and more arrests are expected.”

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