ZENZELE KUHLASE and JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Tuesday
MPUMALANAGA’s second most powerful official, deputy director general Hussein Verachia, has been labelled a ‘pathetic’ liar who attempted to obstruct justice.
Nelspruit Magistrate Jacqueline Boshoff ordered that Verachia’s entire testimony in a fraud case be struck from the record because it was obvious that he had tried to mislead and lie to the court to protect his former secretary and the chief suspect in a cheque fraud scam.
“Mr Verachia was a pathetic witness. His entire testimony should be ignored as it seems that he was trying to hide [evidence] from the court,” said Boshoff.
Verachia told the court that he was unaware of the scam because his secretary Dekeledi Sekgobela had used a false name to submit a fraudulent claim for overtime.
He also insisted that she used his signature stamp to authorise the claim and denied any knowledge of a subsequent cover-up, during which all overtime claims were destroyed and a register of cheque payments was tampered with.
Sekgobela attempted to cash her R12_000 cheque at local retailer, Minty’s, and bought a leather jacket to guarantee a cash refund for the remainder of the cheque.
The shop owner, Muhammad Minty, told the court that he reported the incident to Verachia immediately after the bank warned him the cheque was fraudulent.
“I told Verachia, and he organised that the women refund the money. He said the matter would be dealt with internally, inside government,” said Minty.
Sekgobela instead resigned from government, and criminal charges were only lodged later when internal auditors detected the irregularity. She was found guilty of theft and sentenced to two years jail or a R20_000 fine.
Verachia insists he was unaware of the scam at the time. He was, however, unable to explain why he failed to lodge criminal charges and instead agreed to allow the woman to repay the money and resign from government without further censure.
He also denied interfering in police investigations into more recent theft in the Premier’s Office, when crooked officials allegedly cleaned out Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu’s office during his move to the new R650 million Riverside Complex earlier this month.
Mpumalanga safety and security MEC Steve Mabona confirmed, however, that police had established a special unit to probe Verachia’s alleged systematic interference in criminal cases. – African Eye News Service