Pretoria - The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has remanded alleged fraudster, 45-year-old Ali Ahmed Sabir, in custody after he was arrested and charged for defrauding Pretoria car dealerships of over R1,4 million.
It is alleged that in June 2017, Sabir fraudulently created false payslips under his company, Sabir Egalvally Investment CC when applying for vehicle finance at three car dealerships in Pretoria.
“The extravagant vehicles: four Audi models, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a BMW MSport Grand Coupe, allegedly financed by Wesbank as well as ABSA, were issued to Sabir, but he failed to make the monthly repayments,” according to Hawks provincial spokesperson in Gauteng Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu.
The matter was reported at the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation unit in Pretoria for further investigation.
“The investigation team circulated Sabir on the local and international border movement control, which resulted in his apprehension on Sunday, 24 October at the eSwatini border post while travelling out of the country for leisure,” said Mulamu.
Sabir was charged with fraud, and the case was postponed to Thursday for a formal bail application.
Earlier this month, Mulamu said a 54-year-old man appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court charged with fraud of about R2.2 million.
“It is alleged that Christiaan Frederick van Wyk created fraudulent payment transactions between 2012 and 2018 when he was working at a Melrose based company, PEG Holdings, as a secretary and financial manager,” said Mulamu at the time.
She said the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team in Johannesburg received the matter for investigation into the allegations against Van Wyk.
“Further investigation revealed that Van Wyk transferred approximately R2.2 million on different transactions into his bank accounts for the period,” said Mulamu.
A warrant of arrest was issued for Van Wyk, and he handed himself in at the Johannesburg Hawks’ office, where he was formally charged with fraud. He appeared in court on the same day and was granted R10 000 bail.
IOL