Johannesburg - The Hawks have arrested a chief legal adviser in the Tswaing Municipality, North West, for allegedly defrauding a widow of R1.4 million.
The woman had asked Thebeyagae Petrus Hotane, 47, to manage her late husband’s estate. He allegedly pocketed R1.4m and gave her only R68 000.
Aggrieved by what happened, the woman opened a case against Hotane . He was arrested.
The North West spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso, said the incident occurred in 2019.
She said the woman approached Hotane, who was a lawyer at the time, and asked him to help with her deceased’ husband’s estate.
However, unbeknown to the woman, Hotane was no longer practising as he had been struck off the roll of attorneys for defrauding clients.
“Hotane, however gave the client R68 000 and subsequently made unauthorised withdrawals of more than R1.4m from the estate which he kept for himself.
“There is nothing left in the account,” Rikhotso said.
After investigations, the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigations arrested Hotane on Monday and charged him with fraud.
He made a brief appearance in the Delareyville Magistrate’s Court and was released on R5 000 bail.
The matter was postponed until July 9 for further investigations.
IOL