A Frenchman pretending to be the Reserve Bank Governor, Tito Mboweni, and his four accomplices have allegedly fleeced a foreign businessman of more than R2-million.
Adam Toure and his cronies Mark Ezende, Alpheus Onabuenyi, Meleece Ayoba and her husband Franklin briefly appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court this week on two charges of fraud.
The five allegedly contacted businessman Ali Javadi, who owns a company called Financial Intelligence Centre, in 2006. A rendezvous in Hong Kong was apparently arranged with Javadi where he was allegedly told by one of the men — who had introduced himself as Mboweni — to pay value added tax of R499 809,11.
Javadi claimed he was ordered to deposit the money into the bank account of a certain Emmanuel Kuffor in Hong Kong.
He said he made the payment in September 2006, but was allegedly contacted by ”Mboweni” in October that year, claiming he had not received the money.
Javadi was then allegedly ”forced” to make several more payments totalling R1,98-million.
In January last year, the accused pushed Javadi too far when they demanded that he pay the Reserve Bank $20-million.
The Scorpions arrested the five at Johannesburg’s Montecasino Hotel.
They are due back in court in September. – Sapa