Prosecutor in R400m case robbed

INLSA

Yusuf Omarjees R400m container theft case postponed after prosecutor ambushed.

The State’s case against convicted fraudster Yusuf Omarjee, who is at the centre of a R400 million container theft scam, was adjourned this week after the prosecutor was ambushed outside his home and important information was stolen.

Vital papers, including evidence gathered by Hawks investigators, was stolen from the boot of Yuben Archary’s car on Thursday night.

When a still-traumatised Archary appeared before magistrate Sharon Marks at the Durban Regional Court the next morning, he asked for a six-week postponement so that he could re-compile the docket.

Marks agreed.

Archary said he was cornered by three armed men about 8.30pm when he arrived at his home in Shallcross. He had parked his car and was walking to his house when the men overpowered him.

A police investigator said Archary’s two cellphones and a briefcase containing the case files, held in three lever-arch files were taken. They removed the briefcase from the locked boot of Archary’s car.

“But they were not interested in the car or the money. They threw the keys on to the floor as they made their getaway,” he said.

It is alleged two of the robbers, one pointing a firearm at Archary and another brandishing a knife, pushed, slapped and demanded the prosecutor hand over his car keys. They also enquired if he had a gun, and a third man, armed with a gun, kept an eye on proceedings.

While the drama unfolded outside Archary’s home, his wife who noticed the commotion activated a panic alarm.

“Once the robbers had helped themselves to Archary’s phones and briefcase, they made a quick exit on foot and dropped his car keys to the ground,” said the investigator.

“Archary will try to reconstruct the case file with help from the Hawks investigation team,” he added.

When Omarjee was convicted in 2010 for defrauding banks of an estimated R39m, the State prosecutors in that matter, Yuri Gangai and Mahen Naidu, were placed under 24-hour police guard.

It was alleged then that Omarjee had sought the services of individuals to carry out acts of violence directed at the prosecution team.

In that case,

Omarjee eventually pleaded guilty to 160 counts of fraud and two corruption charges. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment, suspended for five years, on the corruption charges.

For the multiple counts of fraud which included involvement with al-Qaeda operatives in an ID scam, Omarjee was sentenced to 10 years prison or a fine of R5m, half of which was suspended for five years.

In the latest charges brought against Omarjee, it is alleged that a syndicate working with a container storage company where Omarjee was a manager, had been stealing containers and goods from freight companies.

Police regard the breakthrough made by members of the Organised Crime Unit in halting the scam that had overseas shipping claiming losses of about R400m, as one of the biggest busts in the southern hemisphere.

Omarjee was apparently on the run from investigators for about six months, but was eventually apprehended at his uMhlanga home in December and charged with theft, fraud and money laundering, but was released on R10 000 bail.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson confirmed the prosecutor’s robbery but said it would not hamper the state’s case.

“All is not lost. We can reconstruct the docket with the help of SAPS and it’s only a matter of time before the case proceeds.”

The matter goes back to court on April 12. - Sunday Tribune