PRETORIA - Two men appeared at the eMalahleni district court on Monday on charges of fraud after a string of transactions in which they used fake fleet fuel cards, the Hawks said.
Kenneth Maoto, aged 35, and 34-year-old Reginald Nuvunga were arrested in Witbank by the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team last Friday, the directorate’s Mpumalanga spokeswoman Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said.
Before that, they were initially arrested on January 15 by the Vaalbank detective services after presenting two counterfeit fleet cards for fuel payment at a local garage. Further investigations linked the duo to additional, similar fraudulent transactions.
“They were consequently charged for at least two transactions that occurred at Witbank garages in January ... They were arrested in court following their appearance for their earlier offence,” said Sekgotodi.
“During the investigations it was found that they had fraudulently created counterfeit fuel cards for fleet, under two different companies. The fraudulent transactions amount to just over R110,000 (US$7,185).”
The case against the duo was postponed to February 3 for further investigation, and they were remanded in custody.
Last Friday, the Hawks in Mpumalanga said eight suspects had appeared in the Nelspruit magistrate’s court for alleged tax evasion, theft and money laundering. The charge sheet also included four companies that were used by individuals in the group.
The initial arrests in this case were made last November.
A Hawks’ investigation revealed that from April 2017, Smangaliso Innocent Khoza and his girlfriend Busisiwe Prudence Nkosi, the sole directors of Madam and Eve General Trading, submitted fraudulent tax returns to the South African Revenue Service, causing an actual loss of R2.5 million.
The couple, who were the apparent ringleaders in the case, recruited family members and friends to register non-existing companies in order to prejudice the tax agency.
The accused were each released on bail ranging from R3,000 to R10,000 and the case was postponed to February 9.
African News Agency