Eight licensing officials are expected to appear in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court to face fraud and corruption charges on Monday following their arrest at Lekwa licensing offices in Standerton, Mpumalanga, on Friday.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation said the eight allegedly falsified vehicle ownership registrations on the national traffic information system (NaTIS) to enable truck owners to avoid payment of vehicle licensing fees, including penalties and arrears.
The RTMC said it was estimated that the Mpumalanga provincial government had lost more than R67m in unpaid fees as a result of the scam.
The corporation said members of its national traffic anti-corruption unit and the police had been investigating allegations of improper vehicle ownership registrations at licensing centres throughout the country since 2017.
It said about 75 officials who were in implicated in this scam had been identified at registering authorities nationally and arrests were expected as investigations continued.
