Durban - A Durban North man and director of a top engineering firm, Elias Vasilaki Mechanicos, 48, was arrested this week in connection with tender fraud involving R142 million.
Mechanicos, 48, a high roller who has a Ferrari and a plush home in Glenashley, is accused of inflating the value of tenders awarded to his company by the Department of Public Works.
Hawks officers arrested him on Wednesday following a month-long investigation.
Mechanicos was released on R300 000 bail.
The tenders were awarded for the building of a laundry at Prince Mshiyeni Hospital two years ago.
Court documents state Me-chanicos inflated the project pricing by 20 percent.
The Sunday Tribune has also been told that Mechanicos, who has Cypriot and South African citizenship, is under investigation by Interpol in Mozambique for alleged fraud of $10 million.
Captain Paul Ramaloko, spokesman for the Hawks, confirmed the arrest.
“A warrant of arrest was issued to us from the Maputo police as well, regarding another pending fraud matter,” said Ramaloko.
Mechanicos denied the fraud charges. He said the Department of Public Works owed his company money – he cancelled his contract with the department earlier this year
Mechanicos, the director of Elias Mechanicos Building and Civil Engineering Contractors, said the laundry he was contracted to build was meant to be the second-largest facility in the world, after Disneyland’s, and state-of-the-art equipment had to be imported from Germany.
“The project is 98 percent complete. The value of the tender is R142 million. How can they say I have committed fraud when the work is already done? It is not as if I have not delivered.
“The laundry facility is… fit for use. There is no fraud involved. All my documents are in order and they have been signed and approved,” said Mechanicos.
Responding to the allegations that he was being investigated for fraud by Interpol, Mechanicos said he was aware of the matter.
“I received a document from Maputo, but it was written in Portuguese, I could not understand anything.
“I have only heard from the investigating officer here in South Africa that there is a pending matter in Maputo. Other than that, I haven’t heard from Interpol,” said Mechanicos.
Lieutenant-General Solo-mon Makgale, national spokesman for the SAPS, said Mechanicos was not listed as a wanted person by Interpol, but he was regarded as a person of interest.
Sunday Tribune