Four suspects, including a former municipal chief financial officer, face multiple charges of fraud and corruption involving R25 million in misappropriated funds from the Rustenburg Municipality, North West.
The arrests follow an investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks’) Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit in collaboration with the Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS) into fraudulent payments made to a service provider between December 2018 and May 2019.
Hawks’ spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula said that the former CFO colluded with a service provider who was not registered on the municipality’s database to claim payments for services.
“Investigation revealed that payments for alleged services rendered were paid into the bank account of a service provider that was not on the database,” said Mathebula.
Further probe into the matter uncovered that the payments were later transferred from the service provider’s account into the personal accounts of three municipal employees, including the CFO, the secretary to the municipal manager, and a municipal councillor.
“It is further alleged that three non-municipal employees and their entities also received funds from the service provider’s bank account,” Mathebula stated.
The suspects have been charged with multiple counts of fraud, money laundering, and corruption and are expected to appear before the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, March 18.
Mathebula confirmed that the former municipal manager and two service providers linked to the fraudulent activities remain at large.
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