Emfuleni municipality official bust for alleged extortion

A Gauteng local municipality employee and a branch party leader are accused of extorting money from a contractor who has been installing fibre infrastructure in the Vaal area.

This is according to national police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe, who said the arrests were effected by the organised crime unit working closely with the Hawks.

Col Katlego Mogale from the Hawks said in a separate statement that two men were nabbed in Sharpeville in a sting operation. One was an employee of the Emfuleni municipality, she said.

"A multidisciplinary team arranged a meeting with the suspects during which money exchanged hands. Immediately after the transaction, the suspects were arrested. The trap money was recovered as well. The pair is in custody facing charges of extortion pending their first court appearance whilst the investigation continues," said Mogale.

The Hawks are also investigating a municipality in the North West.

A former Ditsobotla local municipality CFO was arrested this week. Two other people, another government official and an attorney, were arrested last week. They are accused of conniving to defraud the municipality of more than R460,000.

The attorney allegedly submitted invoices to the municipality for legal services he claimed to have provided. The two officials reportedly approved the payments for these services, which were never rendered.

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