Johannesburg – A 29-year-old City of Johannesburg senior manager is expected to appear in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday, facing charges of fraud and corruption, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) said.
Hawks spokesperson, Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu, said that the woman was arrested on Wednesday, following a two-year probe in which the Candidate Building Valuer is accused of embezzling R40 million.
"The senior manager is alleged to have devalue numerous building prices between August 2013 and October 2014 in the inner city for personal gain. It is believed that the suspect is part of a syndicate. The investigations are at an advanced stage and more arrests are imminent," Mulamu said in a statement on Wednesday.
The arrest followed the airing of a Carte Blanche expose on November 6, 2016, about irregularities in the execution of Johannesburg property valuations.
The City of Joburg followed up the Carte Blanche expose with an investigation of its own, conducted by its internal forensic investigations unit, headed by General Shadrack Sibiya.
The City of Joburg said it started its investigation and the woman was identified as the person responsible for irregular and allegedly fraudulent adjustments and devaluation of 22 properties in the City, amounting to just under R500 million.
"The fraudulent adjustments and changes of the market values of the aforementioned properties by invalid Municipal Objection Outcome letters resulted in the loss of an estimated R40 million worth of revenue over five financial years," the City said.
"This money should have been used to provide basic and much needed services such as water, electricity and refuse removal to the poor and most vulnerable residents of our City. Disgracefully, this forensic report, like so many others, had been swept under the carpet by the previous administration and kept from the public eye." Gauteng Provincial Hawks head, Major General Prince Mokotedi, said he was pleased with the arrest.
"The continuous efforts in rooting out corruption in government are yielding good results. We have committed ourselves to the citizens of South Africa that we will not relent from doing our job without fear or favour," Mokotedi said in a statement.
"These arrests should serve as a stern warning to those who are mistaken in thinking that they are invincible and difficult to detect."