Woman guilty of arranging fake marriages between SA women and foreign nationals

A 47-year-old suspect was on Tuesday convicted for fraud and corruption for arranging fraudulent marriage certificates between South African women and foreign nationals.

The Hawks have welcomed the conviction handed down to Nomabandla Manjezi by the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Port Elizabeth.

Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase, said Manjezi was found guilty on four counts of corruption and two counts of fraud. The matter was postponed to 18 February for sentencing.

“She was arrested along with Abu Bokar, 46, following a tip-off received by the immigration officers about the arranged fraudulent marriage certificates between South African women and foreign nationals. Their operations were accosted during a waylay investigation in March 2017 resulting in them being charged for fraud and corruption.

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“During the arrest of the duo, their premises which included a cellphone shop in North End and a house in New Brighton were searched. Consequently, documents linked to their criminal operations were found in a container at the New Brighton premises and were seized for further investigation.

“The Hawks investigation revealed that the duo recruited young women from New Brighton, Kwazakele and Zwide, then paid them between R200 and R300 each to marry Bangladeshi nationals, whilst other local women were unaware that they were married to foreign nationals.

“Bokar appeared in the same court on 14 August 2018 and he pleaded guilty on two counts of fraud. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.”

Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu

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