The Scorpions on Monday arrested a fourth man as a result of their ongoing investigations in conjunction with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) into the alleged fraudulent activities of the former joint chief executives of Leisurenet, Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell.
The arrest of Hans Moser, an Austrian citizen, follows the arrests of Mitchell and Gardener during March 2002 and that of Dawid Rabie in July this year. All charges against Rabie were, however, withdrawn on September 23 after he offered his full co-operation to the investigating authorities.
Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said: ”The allegations are that an elaborate scheme was devised to defraud the Leisurenet group of approximately $380 000.
The proceeds of the alleged fraud were allegedly then split evenly between Gardener, Mitchell and Rabie and paid into offshore bank accounts controlled by the individuals.”
Keystone was an architectural company jointly owned by Rabie and LeisureNet. In May 1999 the board of LeisureNet, which owned 49,9% shareholding of Keystone, was persuaded to purchase the remaining 50,1% shareholding from Rabie. The board was informed that the sale price was to be R396 000.
According to the allegations by the state, the board was, however, not informed of further payments totaling $380 000 paid offshore, to be split between the three parties.
Gardener and Mitchell’s offshore structures in Jersey were revealed during October 2001, when Joubert Rabie — another close associate of Mitchell and Gardener but no relation to Dawid Rabie — testified before the commission of inquiry into the liquidation of LeisureNet.
Joubert Rabie’s testimony resulted in Gardener and Mitchell repaying their share of the Keystone transaction to Dawid Rabie in an attempt to avoid detection, with further instructions to channel the funds to Moser’s Swiss bank account, said the Scorpions in a statement.
Moser then held Gardener and Mitchell’s share of the proceeds of the fraudulent Keystone transaction, an amount of $200 000 on their behalf.
The state alleges that Moser contravened the money laundering provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, No 121 of 1998, the Scorpions said.
Moser is a long time business acquaintance of Gardener and Mitchell dating as far back as the 1970s. Moser was involved in the development of Health & Racquet clubs in South Africa before the business was listed.
The Scorpions indicated that they are considering further arrests. – I-Net Bridge