Cape Town – The case against a man, his mother, and his wife who face multiple fraud charges, and one of conspiracy to commit fraud was postponed in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, on Friday.
The charges relate to fraudulent applications for vehicle-purchase finance, submitted to an auto dealer in Malmesbury, in the Western Cape.
Cited on the charge sheet are Marius Coetzee, 40, his mother, Catherine Elizabeth Coetzee, 61, and his wife, Adele Coetzee, 35, all of plot 84, in an area known as Geluk, in Brits.
When the case was called in the Cape Town court, only the mother was in the dock.
The defence lawyer explained that the pregnant wife had gone into labour, which prevented her and her husband attending the proceedings. At the lawyer’s request, the case was postponed to February 6 next year.
Prosecutor Jannie Knipe alleges that the threesome conspired to defraud financial institutions, by means of forged bank statements in support of fraudulent vehicle-finance applications submitted to the Malmesbury motor firm.
According to the charge sheet, the trio acted as agents, or “spotters”, for the motor company, to induce buyers to sign offers-to-purchase in respect of cars on sale on the premises.
Such offers would be included with applications for finance.
The State alleges that the trio loaded the offers-to-purchase with extras to be fitted to the cars, knowing that such extras would not be fitted to the cars.
They also forged bank statements, which were included with the applications, the State alleges.
In turn, the motor company submitted the documentation, in good faith, to various financial institutions, in the belief that the bank statements were true and that the extras would in fact be fitted to the cars.
The financial institutions approved the applications for a total amount of R25 823 020.
The payments included the extras, to be paid to the buyers, who were to have the extras fitted themselves.
The State alleges, however, that the trio falsely informed the buyers that the money for the extras was in fact their commissions as the agents or spotters in the transactions, and kept the money for themselves.
The State alleges that the trio acted in common purpose.
They now face 60 counts of fraud, and one of conspiracy to commit fraud.
African News Agency