Three men appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday for allegedly defrauding municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal of more than R10-million.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Tlali Tlali said one of the accused, Johannes Uys, was traced and arrested in Pretoria on Thursday morning by the Durban office of the Directorate of Special Operations.
Two of his co-accused, Wilhelmus Vermuelen and Tertius Rademeyer, were arrested after handing themselves over on Friday morning.
”The accused, the State will allege and adduce evidence to that effect, form part of a syndicate involved in an investment scam targeting municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal,” Tlali said.
The men allegedly misrepresented themselves to UThungulu municipality near Richard’s Bay and to one of the commercial banks. They were allegedly able to cash the municipality’s investment bond certificates.
”Once cashed, acting for their benefit and not on behalf of the municipality, the accused chose an investment vehicle of their choice and invested the money with Saambou bank,” Tlali said.
The money was not recovered after Saambou collapsed in 2002.
The three faced charges of fraud and theft totalling R10,7-million.
Each was granted bail of R5 000.
The case was postponed to April 14 for further investigation.
Tlali said more arrests were expected soon in another leg of this investigation involving R17-million. — Sapa