The long arm of the law has finally secured a hold on a suspect said to be a bogus broker, after almost 17 years of evasion.
The 52-year-old Christiaan Jacobus Venter is facing a charge of fraud following his arrest by the Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team.
He appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on 11 November for allegedly defrauding an unidentified investor in 2007.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said the court had postponed Venter’s matter to 21 January with the aim of setting a trial date.
She said the fraud-accused has since been granted bail of R10 000.
Matoti confirmed a warrant for Venter’s arrest had been issued after his evasion of police custody.
“It is alleged that during 2007, Venter met the complainant and introduced himself as a broker. He persuaded the complainant by selling him false hopes of receiving a 16% return on the invested amount annually,” explained Matoti.
“The complainant invested more than R800 000.
“Instead of delivering on the promised dividends, however, the accused told the complainant that he had lost huge amounts of money in the stock exchange,” she stated.
After not getting any return on his invested money, the victim opened a criminal case against Venter, which was registered and referred to the Hawks for further investigation, culminating in his arrest.
