JOHANNESBURG - Former Black Business Council president Danisa Baloyi was granted R5,000 bail along with three accused in connection with the disappearance of a R5.7 million donation made by the Airports Company SA (Acsa) to the organisation.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) spokesman Ndivhuwo Mulamu said Baloyi, 63, Dominic Ntsele, 52, Bibi Hawa Khan, 48 and Abubaker Ebrahim Khan, 46, handed themselves over to the authorities on Wednesday and appeared before the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court on charges of fraud and theft. The matter dates back to 2017 when BBC laid criminal charges against Baloyi and oil and gas company Merit Energy over the missing millions. The organisation subsequently suspended Baloyi in December 2017 pending the investigation.
Following an investigation by the Hawks in 2018, it was found that Baloyi approached Acsa executives for a "Radical Economic Transformation campaign" fundraising donation of R5.7 million.
"Dr Baloyi allegedly submitted the name of a company [Merit Energy] and its banking details which allegedly was nominated to run the fundraising event. The funds were transferred into Merit Energy PTY Ltd owned by Bibi Hawa Khan and her brother Abubaker Ebrahim Khan. Further investigations revealed that the funds were later transferred into another business account, Incentive Driven Marketing owned by Dominic Ntsele, which was utilised for the fundraising it was not intended for," said Mulamu.
The BBC elected Sandile Zungu as president in August 2018.