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Mayor Kgotso Khumalo was arrested early Friday, along with a township director, Cyril Henry, who is a former interim city manager at JB Marks. Pictures: Supplied
NEWS
Apparently some undeclared rand 5 million money belonging to the local JB Marks municipality in the northwest made its way into the private accounts of Mayor Kgotso Khumalo and other municipal officials.
This is what has landed Khumalo and his co-defendants in trouble, after the Hawks investigated and tracked down the R5 million, as well as the web of dubious transactions around them.
Khumalo was arrested early Friday morning, along with a municipality director, Cyril Henry, who is a former interim city manager for JB Marks.
The Hawks could not rule out the possibility of more arrests in the same case. Images showing the couple being herded onto the field by Hawks officials dressed in the brand’s white golf jerseys flooded social media this morning. They were later released following a warning from the Potchefstroom Magistrates Court.
The same municipality of JB Marks is among those investigated by the Special Investigation Unit for the controversial spending by coronavirus Covid-19
In elaborating on the couple’s arrest, Hawks spokesman Capt. Tlangelani Rikhotso said that the money that was destined for the municipality was deposited into a trust account and “was never declared to the Auditor General.”
“Through the investigations it was discovered that a series of payments were allegedly made from the trust to the suspects’ private bank accounts. It is alleged that the trust funds were misrepresented to make it appear that they were being used to pay for services rendered to the municipality; meanwhile, invoices were allegedly falsified, “Rikhotso said.
Images showing the couple being herded onto the field by Hawks officials dressed in the brand’s white golf jerseys flooded social media this morning. Image: supplied
“In some cases, funds were allegedly paid to the accounts of the service providers for services that were never rendered; subsequently, the suspects would collect the money.”
The same municipality of JB Marks is among those investigated by the Special Investigation Unit for the controversial Covid-19 coronavirus spending. The municipality made headlines in July when it informed the Northwest provincial legislature that a large quantity of disinfectants was purchased at R750 per liter.
Read: Sanco opens a case of fraud and corruption even after the municipality delivers R750 per liter of disinfectant
It was also cited, in the same presentation on the report of expenses related to Covid-19 of the municipality of R11.4 million, that R1.2 million were spent on instant nutritional porridge for the indigent. The municipality, however, made a U-turn a few days later, saying that it had actually paid R750 for 5 liters of disinfectant and not for 1 liter.
Meanwhile, in Atamelang, about 200 km from Potchefstroom, Cassius Sejake, former municipal director of the local Ratlou municipality, was released on bail of 5,000 rand.
The 45-year-old man had been arrested last Friday at the Setlagole municipal offices for failing to follow due process in awarding contracts worth just over R5 million during his time as acting accountant.
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