LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Witbank | Wednesday 4.00PM
A SENIOR Ekangala magistrates’ court administrative clerk was arrested in a dawn raid on her Lynville township house near Witbank on Wednesday morning after police reportedly linked her to the theft of an estimated R5,2-million from the Ekangala courts.
The arrest follows intensive investigations into corruption and cheque fraud at the courts by the Heath special investigative unit and the Attorney General.
An East London businessman, Neil Stuart Kerr, meanwhile also appeared in the Pretoria magistrates’ court for a third time on Wednesday for allegedly laundering a R4,5-million cheque stolen from Ekangala last year.
Magistrate FJ Poolma rejected Kerr’s bail application after the prosecution argued that Kerr would flee the country. He was arrested at Johannesburg International Airport two weeks ago just minutes before boarding a plane for London.
Police said on Wednesday that they had applied for a search warrant for the house of the 32-year-old woman, who has not yet been named, house following the latest theft of R6000 cash from the courts on Monday. The woman will appear in the Bronkohorspruit magistrates’ court on Thursday morning.