A Cape Town municipal manager‚ his wife as well as his girlfriend are out on R50‚000 bail each after being arrested for allegedly defrauding the City of Cape Town of R70 million. Paul Hatting (42)‚ an administrator at the City of Cape Town‚ who also sits at the tender board‚ allegedly awarded tenders to his company‚ his wife’s company as well as the company owned by his girlfriend between 2008 and 2014.The total amount of money which the three are alleged to have fraudulently acquired amounted to R70 million‚ according to police."The Hawks in the Western Cape were made aware of the fraud in 2014 and an in-depth investigation ensued‚ leading to the arrest of Mr Hatting‚ Simoney Ulanda Hatting (his wife) and Esmeralda Plato who is believed to be Mr Hatting’s girlfriend‚" the directorate said in a statement.The three companies; Cosmic Gold 532‚ Cosmic Gold 517 and TTANIC Trading were awarded tenders to supply the City of Cape Town with cleaning materials as well as refuse bags. Each tender cost between R900‚000 and R45 million.The three suspects‚ who have been charged with fraud and corruption‚ have appeared at the Bellville Commercial Court where they were granted bail and will be in the dock again on 17 March 2016."I had stated on my first day in office that I will impose 500 percent transparency and adopt zero tolerance for corruption‚" said Hawks National head‚ Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza.“Corruption is an ill that has to be removed from our midst as it denies our people what they rightfully expect from government. Those who are involved or intend to get involved must beware‚" Ntlemeza said...