The high-profile fraud case involving luxury vehicles against eight accused persons from Bloemfontein is scheduled to resume in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 14 July and will continue until Friday, 18 July.
This followed the Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team’s discovery that the cars were purchased fraudulently.
The accused are Mosa Harington Tseleli, Simon Cornelius Botha, Glen Ceasar Crouch, Jolene Crouch, Veronica Crouch, Crystal Natasha Arendse, Eagen Jean-Jacques Moses and Lehlohonolo Gilbert Rasoeu.
The accused face charges of fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering forged documents. The matter pertains to allegations of colluding to defraud two established banks of more than R6 million to purchase nine high-end vehicles. The cars include Mercedes Benz, BMW 220i, BMW 320d, BMW X-drive and VW Golf GTIs.
Mojalefa Senokoatsane, spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority in the Free State, says the matter continues with the presentation of further evidence against the remaining eight accused. In total, nine people were arrested in connection with the sophisticated fraud and money laundering case.
The ninth accused, Chilleroy Floyd Buys, was sentenced on 28 September 2022. He received a 12-year suspended prison sentence and an additional 12 months of correctional supervision. The 12-year suspended sentence is conditional on him not committing the same crime during the suspension period.
The court further ordered Buys to repay a whopping R300 000 to the two banks, Standard Bank and West Bank. This followed after he pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to reimburse the two banks, paying R5 000 in monthly instalments.
The Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team arrested them in February 2020 after uncovering evidence that the accused colluded to allegedly defraud the two banks of approximately R6 million and thereafter went on a shopping spree, purchasing high-end vehicles. Further police investigation discovered they had acquired an estimated R800 000 in loans. The Hawks’ in-depth investigation revealed the accused allegedly orchestrated the scheme in 2017.
The investigation discovered that the accused allegedly defrauded the two banks through false personal loan and vehicle finance applications. The Hawks’ investigation discovered that in 2017, Tseleli, who was an employee of Standard Bank, allegedly facilitated the process of completing applications for vehicle finance and personal loans, despite knowing that the other parties did not meet the requirements.
All the accused, including Buys who has since been convicted, were released in 2020 after the state granted each R2000 bail with strict conditions.
