Johannesburg - Former ANC MP and ex-agriculture portfolio committee chairman Rubben Mohlaloga has been charged in connection with R6 million allegedly looted from the Land Bank.
And Mohlaloga, who was expelled as deputy president of the ANC Youth League in 2006, did not tell his bosses at the Department of Communications about the case. He is a chief director in the department.
“He did not raise it,” said Communications department spokesman Siya Qoza.
Mohlaloga, former Land Bank chief executive Philemon Mohlahlane, a Limpopo lawyer and a former Limpopo Youth Commission member, whose names are known to The Sunday Independent, were arrested in October, Hawks spokesman Paul Ramaloko said on Saturday.
They were released on bail of R20 000 each, he said, and will appear in court again on Wednesday.
The State intends arguing that R6m was allegedly siphoned from the Land Bank, at the request of Mohlahlane, through a bogus project which was never registered with the bank’s AgriBEE fund, a source close to the investigations told The Sunday Independent.
The money allegedly went through the bank account of the lawyer’s firm and R800 000 was allegedly used to buy two BMWs for Mohlaloga, said the source, who could not be quoted because of the sensitivity of the case. A large portion of the money was allegedly used to buy a farm, and R60 000 was allegedly also spent on time share.
On Saturday, Mohlaloga confirmed his arrest and release on R20 000 bail. He said he would not “talk about the merits of the case.”
He said he did not believe he had to inform the department. “Why should I have informed them? It doesn’t involve the employer yet,” he said.
Qoza said the “department notes that the case is ongoing”.
“The outcomes of the court case would determine the department’s future course of action in relation to this matter,” Qoza said.
This case brings the total value of alleged fraud of the Land Bank’s AgriBEE fund to R34.5m – more than a third of the total R100m that was allocated.
While serving as chairman of the agriculture portfolio committee between September 2007 and May 2009, Mohlaloga was meant to oversee and ensure that the department, which is responsible for the Land Bank, accounts to MPs.
The AgriBEE fund was aimed at assisting emerging, mostly black, farmers with low interest loans to pay for farms.
A third case involves another chief director, but this time in the then newly established Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department.
He is accused of convincing the owner of a project to divert R2m of a legitimate R9m grant from the AgriBEE fund. The case has been partly heard and will return to the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court in February.
Agriculture department spokesman Steve Galane said the chief director was suspended as a result of the criminal case. He said the department would decide whether to take internal action once the criminal trial is concluded.
Ramaloko said law enforcement agencies had managed to obtain freezing orders for R15 million in property and funds of which R8.7m has been seized.
“The investigation was conducted through a collaborative effort by various agencies involved. An auditing firm [PricewaterhouseCoopers] was appointed by the Land Bank to support the investigation with the necessary forensic analysis as part of the normal practice of investigation in such matters,” Ramaloko said. The investigation is ongoing.
Mohlahlane could not be reached for comment.
Sunday Independent