Johannesburg - It was the scene of a James Bond-style shooting where a remote-controlled gun emerged from the number plate of a parked car and started firing. A year later, the car was destroyed in a bomb explosion.
Now police investigators, who have been digging into more than 100 cases involving Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir say that his business Moneypoint in Bedfordview was the centre of many more crimes.
Krejcir allegedly took over the business from someone else without their permission, and it was allegedly used to sell high-value items, many of which were stolen during business and house robberies.
Police have said Krugerrands, firearms and later drugs were some of these expensive items.
The business was allegedly used to “clean” money made through illegal means and bringing it into circulation through legitimate business.
Krejcir is allegedly at the centre of investigations which comprise a minimum of 20 murder cases, 15 involving drug trafficking, five robberies involving Krugerrands, 30 cases of house and business robbery, 15 fraud cases and many hijacking cases.
Investigators told The Star that Krejcir would allegedly sell someone Krugerrands, but they would later be robbed. For instance, a buyer would buy gold coins worth R10 million. The buyer would come to Moneypoint, buy the coins, and on their way home, he or she would either be hijacked or their home would be robbed later that night and the Krugerrands stolen.
Sometimes after the sale of drugs, a hijacking or arrest would occur, allegedly by police officers who were on Krejcir’s payroll.
After being arrested, the pedlar would be taken to Germiston police station and the officers would get the seller to confess that the person they had allegedly sold the drugs to was Krejcir.
The officers would then call Krejcir, who would arrive at the station, speak to the officers and then tell the seller that he had organised for his release, but he had paid the police R2m.
Krejcir would then allegedly tell the victim that he now owed him R2m. So the money paid to Krejcir for the drugs was gone, and so were the drugs they bought.
The police officers would allegedly hand them back to Krejcir, and then they would be saddled with a R2m debt.
One of the fraud cases related to a McLaren vehicle which Krejcir allegedly bought from someone in the Western Cape for R3m. The money was paid into the seller’s account, but once the car was delivered, the money disappeared.
Another case involves three expensive vehicles, a BMW M5, a Range Rover and a Mercedes- Benz, which Krejcir allegedly bought from someone in Benoni for R2.8m in total after negotiating a cash discount.
The money allegedly disappeared from the account when the vehicles were delivered. Only R800 was left.
Investigators indicated they had also uncovered how Krejcir received his asylum into the country.
He allegedly promised the facilitator R3m.
A deposit of R1.5m was paid, and in what is alleged to be typical of his style, when the asylum documents arrived, the balance was not paid.
The Star