A glamorous TV presenter and her husband appeared in the commercial crimes court in Pretoria on Thursday, charged with R32m in fraud, theft and money-laundering.
Henriette Marx is the host of the show Net Koffie on kykNET. The show has enjoyed three seasons on the channel.
Dressed in black with brightly painted nails, Marx was in the dock with husband Dries Marx and co-accused Paul McIntyre, who is Dries Marx’s former colleague.
The complainant is Hanno van Dyk, the owner of Vereeniging-based company Yellow Star Manufacturing (YSM), where Dries and McIntyre were employed in senior positions.
The company produces metal castings for industry.
The other accused are DMH Traders, Tabgha Holdings, Arabica Productions — all represented by Dries Marx — and Coffee Excellence, represented by Henriette Marx. The Marx couple hold co-directorships in all the companies, according to the charge sheet.
According to the charge sheet, Dries Marx was the MD of YSM with a 20% shareholding stake from 2018 until his removal as director in April 2022.
McIntyre was appointed by Dries as customer liaison officer and manager in April 2019 and reported directly to him.
The two men were responsible for the day-to-day operations of the YSM factory.
Dries was a cosignatory on the YSM bank account, along with Van Dyk.
The state alleges that the Marx couple and McIntyre, over two years benefited to the tune of R32m from payments meant for YSM that were paid into the bank accounts of the other companies by YSM customers.
Marx and McIntyre are understood to be central figures in the alleged cash extraction operation.
The three accused were earlier ordered to hand their passports in to the investigating officer and were warned to appear in court on Thursday.
On Thursday morning they were arrested and taken to the cells until the court was ready for their appearance.
The three immaculately dressed accused spent less than an hour in court before the presiding officer, magistrate Ignatius Petrus du Preez, granted their unopposed bail application.
All three accused were released on bail of R20,000 and the case was postponed to January 31.
McIntyre’s lawyer Gerhard Nel declined to comment.
“Speaking for all three accused, unfortunately we cannot comment at this time. We still have not seen the contents of the docket,” Nel told TimesLIVE Premium.
Van Dyk said he was happy with the state’s team on the case.
“Advocate Don Sithole and Captain Solly Matlou did incredible work to be ready in time to have the case on the court roll for January 2024. They do their work under difficult circumstances,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.