Another man arrested in R53m City of Tshwane fraud case

A second suspect has been arrested for fraud and corruption, amounting to R53 million, at the Tshwane Municipality.

The 44-year-old man from Durban was arrested on Friday by the National Clean Audit Task Team of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI). He has been linked to the theft of R53 million from the City of Tshwane Municipality which was earmarked for the National Fund for Municipality Workers (NFMW).

The money was allegedly stolen from the municipality’s bank account on 30 August 2019. The stolen funds were allegedly laundered from the company SAGOLD (Pty) Ltd into several businesses, as well as local and international bank accounts of the first accused’s relatives.

The first accused, 62-year-old Ivo Gunter Wegrostek, was arrested on 18 December 2019. Wegrostek is out on bail of R 100,000, with strict conditions.

At the time of the arrest, it was believed the suspect could be part of a criminal syndicate, Hawks national spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi previously told News24.

During a raid of the man’s business and residential premises last month, several computers, cellphones and debit cards were seized, which provided evidence that he was part of a big criminal syndicate operating across provincial and international borders, Mulaudzi said.

Wegrostek’s case was postponed to 21 May 2020 in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Pretoria.

The second suspect is expected to appear in the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of fraud, money laundering and corruption.

“It is expected that the case against this suspect will also be remanded to 21 May 2020 at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in order to join the first accused, where he will be accused number two,” Mulaudzi said.

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