The body of German businessman Uwe Gemballa, who disappeared shortly after landing in South Africa in February, has been found, police said on Sunday.
“Initially police were investigating a missing person's case. We have now opened a murder docket,” Colonel Vishnu Naidoo told Sapa in a telephonic interview.
Gemballa was shot in the head execution-style. His body was found in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, on Tuesday. His hands were bound behind his back.
Naidoo said police were waiting for post-mortem results to confirm the body was indeed Gemballa's.
“The tests will also help us establish how long he had been dead. We are now trying to establish the motive of the murder. We will only have more details on the matter once the post-mortem results are available.”
No arrests had been made yet.
German policemen, who were in the country, and local police had been working together to help find Gemballa after he went missing after landing at OR Tambo International Airport on February 8.
Gemballa was owner and founder of Gemballa Porsche Conversions, which dealt in Porsches and other luxury sports cars across the globe.
“All we know is that he contacted his wife on the 9th (of February) and he hasn't left South Africa. He is missing, basically,” Naidoo said at the time.
The businessman was thought to have been on a business trip. He was due to leave the country on February 10.
The Sunday Times reported that a close friend, who acted as the family's representative in South Africa, said the family had suspected Gemballa had been held for ransom.
A day after arriving in South Africa, a flustered Gemballa called his wife, Christiane, saying he had been involved in a “little accident” and asked her to transfer R9.4 million to a bank account, the newspaper reported.
She knew something was wrong because he spoke in English, a language they never spoke to each other.
Naidoo could not comment on the Sunday Times report that Gemballa might have been involved in an international syndicate involving alleged money laundering, tax evasion, imported cars stuffed with cash and contract killings - stretching from Switzerland and Germany to Johannesburg.
“We do not know anything about that. Right now, we are investigating a murder case,” said Naidoo. - Sapa