The Hawks. Picture: Bloemfontein Courant.
The Hawks have confirmed the arrest of nine suspects including two former Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality officials on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering of more than R56.million.
According to Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase, the suspects – aged between 30 and 65 – handed themselves over to police on Friday morning and were expected to appear before the Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court soon.
Along with the former municipal officials, other suspects include two influential community office bearers as well as five business people. A 10th suspect recently passed away.
Nkwalase said the metro municipality was among those selected for a rapid bus system in 2010 and the integrated public transport system (IPTS) project.
The service providers chosen on these two projects were reportedly irregular and their prices were allegedly inflated.
The matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation in September 2018 following an audit report by the National Treasury between October 2014 and March 2017.
“It is alleged that the suspects operated a syndicate with common purpose to unlawfully circumvent the prescribed procurement processes to irregularly and fraudulently benefit specific suppliers or consultants.”
He added that it was alleged that influential office bearers colluded with municipal officials and controlled decision-making in the appointments of specific persons in critical municipal posts.
“This was purportedly done to influence procurement processes as well as the appointments of entities willing to advance the interests of the syndicate.
“The alleged objective was to ensure a steady stream of unlawful payments from the municipality to members of the syndicate where the funds were distributed to other syndicate members.
“This now forms the second leg of our investigation, on the first leg conducted in April 2017, we arrested six suspects that included two company directors, one entity, one municipal official and one person from Eastern Cape Province Rugby Union.”
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