NORTH WEST PROVINCE – Seven accused appeared before the Specialised Commercial Crime Court, sitting at the Molopo Regional Court, on Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October.
Hendrik Smith, Petrus van der Merwe, Barbra van der Merwe, Sarel van Niekerk, Brian Moholo, Tshepiso Moholo and Reggie Mutsi face a total of 46 counts, including corruption, fraud, contraventions of the Municipal Finance Management Act and money laundering.
The court appearances followed their arrests on the same two days by members of the Hawks’s Serious Corruption Investigation and Crimes Against the State units.
Municipal land valued at R144 million
It is alleged that between 2007 and 2009, accused 1 and 2 acted in common purpose to defraud the Mafikeng Local Municipality through an unlawful sale agreement involving municipal land valued at R144 million, the Hawks said.
The agreement required the purchaser to pay the full purchase price. However, only R5 million was paid, leaving an outstanding balance of R139 million.
The R5 million payment was allegedly made under an unauthorised agreement involving the accused and other parties. The municipality was allegedly unaware of, and had not authorised, this agreement. The partial payment was allegedly part of a scheme to amend the original sale agreement and reduce the purchase price of the land.
In February 2009, the land was transferred after accused 1 lodged an application with the Deeds Registry in Vryburg. The transfer allegedly proceeded despite the outstanding balance and without the required municipal authorisation.
SHRA defrauded of more than R100 miillion
It is further alleged that between 2011 and 2013, accused 2 to 7 participated in a scheme to defraud the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) of more than R100 million, using the land acquired through the alleged fraud.
Accused 5, who was the SHRA chief executive at the time, allegedly facilitated and authorised the process through which the funding was obtained. The accused allegedly applied for more than R100 million in social housing funding, purportedly to build social housing units in Mahikeng.
Investigation allegedly revealed that the intended housing units have not been completed. Instead, only structures were erected, allegedly to conceal the scheme’s true purpose. The SHRA suffered financial prejudice exceeding R100 million.
All seven granted bail
All seven accused were granted bail. Six were granted bail of R10 000 each, while accused 5, Moholo, was granted bail of R5 000. The matter was postponed to 7 December for further investigations, the Hawks said.
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