Corrected: Absa consultant arrested for fraud after alleged theft of R25m

An Absa consultant was arrested in Elim, near Makhado in Limpopo, for fraud after allegedly stealing R25m belonging to the provincial government.

Hawks spokesperson Capt Matimba Maluleke said the arrest of the 27-year-old man on Friday followed an intelligence-driven operation between the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team, police members from Waterval, and Absa forensic investigators.

“It is alleged that the suspect stole R25m from the provincial government accounts and deposited it into different accounts that he had opened. Despite the clandestine efforts by the suspect, the team painstakingly managed to trace and freeze the complex web of bank accounts linked to him,” Maluleke said.

He said the suspect was arrested at his workplace and his house was searched where four Absa ATM cards, two withdrawal slips and R2,030 in cash were found and seized.

The suspect will make his first appearance in the Waterval magistrate’s court on Monday, to face fraud charges.

Maluleke said the investigation was still ongoing and more arrests were imminent.

• This article has been corrected on July 21 2020. The previous article incorrectly referred to the suspect as a “forensic” consultant while the Hawks statement said he was a bank consultant.