THE Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crime Court released the former estate controller at the Master’s Office, Philasande Bongani Ntshantsha (43), and an attorney, Mkhuseli Ndamase (42), and his law firm on R5 000 bail each on August 6, 2024.
According to Hawks spokesperson, Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, they appeared before the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crime Court on the day of their arrest, and the matter was remanded to October 10, 2024, to set a trial date.
Their appearance came after they were arrested by the Mthatha Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team of the Hawks on allegations of fraud and corruption.
Mhlakuvana said it is alleged that the victim was involved in an accident, and he had lodged a claim with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) through Polo Attorneys.
He said that in 2022 the victim reportedly passed on, while the cash was still held in the attorney’s trust account.
“It is further reported that the mother of the victim was advised by the Master’s Office to appoint an attorney to handle the administration estate process for the deceased children.
“On October 6, 2023, the reports indicated that the complainant approached Ndamase’s Attorneys for the assistance. The law firm was reportedly ordered by the Master’s Office to comply with some compulsory requirements in order to receive a letter of Executorship, but they failed to comply. Subsequent to that, Ndamase and Ntshantsha allegedly colluded in formulating a manually-generated Letter of Executorship which in normal situations is computer generated,” said Mhlakuvana.
He added that during auditing, the Master’s office picked up some discrepancies in the letter. The matter was reported to the Hawks for probing. According to him, investigations by the Hawks established that Ntshantsha, who reportedly resigned, appended the official date stamp and forged the signature of the assistant master, then delivered the letter to Ndamase’s home for the gratuity of R4 000.
“Thorough investigation also divulged that the Letter of Executorship was fraudulent. Thereafter, his law firm opened a bank account where they demanded the deceased’s cash from Polo Attorneys trust fund with a fraudulent Letter of Executorship, and it was repudiated. The complainant was nearly prejudiced to cash of over R1 million.”
