Prosecutor Wendy O'Brien told the Durban Commercial Crime Court yesterday the state had been "inundated" with telephone calls from investigating officers who had new cases opened against Michayla Kogie Mentoor since her arrest less than three weeks ago.
The 48-year-old mother of three is alleged to have masqueraded as a consultant from the Department of Trade and Industry and conned small business owners in KwaZulu-Natal out of more than R2-million.
She allegedly promised them she would help fast-track their applications for funding to start or expand their entities. She would then produce fraudulent approval letters purportedly from the DTI and collect a fee for her efforts.
Mentoor, who runs a financial services business in Durban and Cape Town, has two previous fraud convictions and two warrants of arrest - for allegedly defaulting on payments to a victim she was previously convicted of duping and for a pending case in Johannesburg.
The state alleges Mentoor had been on the run when she was arrested in the upmarket suburb of Bishopscourt near Cape Town.
In her affidavit presented at her bail application hearing yesterday, Mentoor claimed she was unaware a warrant of arrest was issued as she was in talks with the victim's lawyer to address the default payments. She said she was under the impression that the Johannesburg case had been withdrawn.
Advocate Jay Naidoo said his client had no intention of evading her trial and that she should be granted bail as her poor health required medical treatment.
The case was provisionally adjourned to May 15.
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