CAPE TOWN – Five suspects accused of defrauding a water treatment company appeared in the Muizenberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town this week.
The five appeared on Wednesday 4 February on 168 fraud and money laundering charges.
The suspects are Faldelah Samsodien (59), David Lethem (54), Adiebah Hendricks (55), Mogamat Zain Samsodien (65) and Tahir Samsodien (24). They were arrested by members of the Bellville Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team at different addresses in Grassy Park and Edgemead during a disruptive operation, says Zinzi Hani, Hawks-spokesperson.
The arrests were executed early Wednesday morning.
NuWater Systems, the company the suspects allegedly defrauded, is based in Capricorn Drive, Muizenberg.
NuWater is a leading provider of advanced water and wastewater treatment solutions, delivering sustainable, adaptable, and efficient systems that create measurable value to its clients, the biography of the company reads on its website.
The accused were all released on bail ranging between R5 000 and R20 000.
“The arrests are linked to alleged fraud during July 2024, where David Lethem, a financial manager, and Faldelah Samsodien, a financial administrator – both previously employed at NuWater – loaded and authorised fraudulent payments using the company’s business online banking,” Hani says.
Investigation revealed that Faldelah had received more money from the payments.
“Furthermore, investigation revealed that when these fraudulent payments were loaded, the company was used as the recipient, but the account number could not match that of said supplier.
“Due to these payments, NuWater Systems suffered an actual loss of more than R10 million,” Hani says.
The matter against all the accused has been postponed to 26 March to be transferred to the Wynberg Regional Court.
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