Nigerian in court for over R12m City of Tshwane fraud: Inside his scam

A Nigerian man appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday accused with a brazen attempt to defraud the city’s municipality.

Charles Ugochukwu Onuaha was arrested on 26 April following an investigation that led authorities to his home in Durban.

The accused had been attempting to evade police capture by fleeing to KZN, and police seized electronic items in connection with a fraud, theft and money laundering case involving just over R12 million.

The matter has now been postponed to 24 June for the bail application, as well as to acquire an Igbo interpreter.      

Onuaha’s alleged modus operandi

It is claimed that the 53-year-old man orchestrated a scam that saw a massive payment meant for a City of Tshwane service provider diverted to his personal account.

He is believed to have used the credentials of a official to alter the bank details of a service provider on the city’s supply chain accounting software.

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A payment of R12 127 644,51 was then allegedly made to the accused’s account, with the city only becoming aware of the problem after the service provider complained about non-payment.  

The city contacted the bank, who froze the account, but only R9 630 735,41 of the initial payment was left in the account.

The accused is said to have submitted his own death certificate to his bank in an attempt to deceive the bank.

“Further investigation was conducted with the Department of Home Affairs to authenticate the death certificate. It was discovered that the certificate was fraudulent,” confirmed Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation spokesperson Warrant Officer Wendy Nkabi.

Fraud a leading risk for South Africans

Incidents of fraud reported to the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service increased by 32% in 2023.

ALSO READ: Fraud one of biggest risks for South Africans

The most affected sector was banking, which made up 45% of the fraud cases reported last year.

The micro finance sector was the second-worst affected, with 19% and retail clothing stores third, making up 14% of the cases.