Conman splurged R1.5m in 12 days

14 March 2013 - 03:00 By AMUKELANI CHAUKE
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A Pretoria man has shown that defrauding the state is as easy as sending a fax.

In the space of 12 days, the 46-year-old suspect blew R1.5-million shopping, paying from a fraudulently opened ''government'' account.

Documents obtained by The Times show that the suspect is the sole holder of the account - and the funds he allegedly embezzled were earmarked for the Gauteng provincial government.

He bought clothing and shoes - including designer-wear by Fabiani and Socrati - and made several cash withdrawals ranging from as little as R2000 to R210000.

Suspicions aroused by an unusually high transaction rate, Nedbank froze the account after R1.5-million had been splurged in less than two weeks.

An arrest was made 21 days later at a Nedbank branch at Centurion Mall, in Pretoria, when a man was caught trying to obtain a statement using a fake ID.

This was after the Merafong local municipality was duped into paying R1.85-million into a fake account in November 2011, believing that it was held by the Gauteng department of roads and transport.

The Times understands that Gauteng's standing committee on public accounts will grill the department about the case.

Merafong collects money generated from vehicle registration and licensing, roadworthiness testing and driver's licence-testing .

A portion of the revenue is transferred to the provincial department monthly.

There is mounting suspicion that the fraud is an inside job.

Last night, a source in Merafong, who asked not to be named, said two traffic department officials were arrested in connection with the case last week.

In September 2011, Merafong collected R2.77-million, of which R1.85-million was due to the provincial transport department.

A reliable source told The Times yesterday that, on October 7 2011, Merafong officials received a letter on what appeared to be the transport department's letterhead confirming a change of banking details, from FNB to Nedbank, in the account name "GPG Road and Transport".

Two deposits were made into the account on October 31 2011.

R1.28-million was paid in from a Nedbank branch in Carletonville, on the West Rand, and R569000 from a branch in Fochville.

Nine days later, on November 9 2011, there were two withdrawals, amounting to R32000.

More withdrawals led suspicious Nedbank officials to freeze the account after R1.5-million had been debited to the account.

The balance was then only R321000.

Realising that they had been dupped, Merafong and the transport department opened a fraud case at the Carletonville police station.

Nedbank opened a separate case at the Lyttelton police station in Pretoria.

On Tuesday, Gauteng transport spokesman Octavia Mamabolo confirmed the opening of the fraud case and said that the suspected fraudster was not an employee of the department.

Merafong spokesman Chris Spies undertook to comment yesterday but had not done so at the time of going to press.

HOW TO BLOW A FORTUNE REALLY FAST

Deposit: R1.85-million deposited into account 'GPG Road and Transport' on October 31 2011.

  • Day1: (November9) First withdrawal: R32000 in three transactions in Irene, Pretoria.
  • Day2: (November10) Withdrawals in Irene and Hillcrest totalling R120000, and cheque for R95000 cashed.
  • Day3: (November11) Two withdrawals amounting to R220000, and two card purchases (Socrati Sandton R2600 and Woolworths R799).
  • Day4: (November14) Two withdrawals totalling R123000, and a card purchase at Zifferelli for R13400.
  • Day5: (November15) R150000 withdrawn.
  • Day6: (November16) R180000 withdrawn at Hillcrest.
  • Day7: (November19) R100000 withdrawal, and R8000 spent at Zifferelli.
  • Day8: (November21) R7000 spent at Fabiani.
  • Day9: (November22) R210000 withdrawn at Hillcrest.
  • Day10: (November23) R186000 withdrawal.
  • Day11: (November25) Two ATM withdrawals of R1000 each.
  • Day12: (November28) R3000 withdrawn from an ATM, and R60000 from inside an Irene bank.
  • Bank charges: R7500.
  • November 28: Account frozen with a balance of R321000.
  • November 29 2011: Man arrested at Nedbank branch in Centurion for trying to get a bank statement using a fraudulent bank account.

THE COUNTERFEIT ACCOUNT

January 9 2011: An official delivers a three-page letter to Merafong municipality notifying it that the Gauteng transport department's banking details will change 'effectively' from October.

October 5 2011: A 'fraudulent' letter confirming a change of banking details is sent from an unknown fax number to Merafong.

The fax number on top of the page showing the sender had been deleted and the chief financial officer's signature was different from the ink used on the date.

Merafong deposits R1.85-million on October 31 2011. A 'fake' invoice is faxed to Merafong, apparently from the Gauteng transport department on November 30 2011.

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