Pretoria – The wife of a senior military general in the South African National Defence Force was on Wednesday released on R80,000 bail following her court appearance on charges of fraud involving approximately R100 million, the National Prosecuting Authority said.
Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndlovu, who was arrested earlier on Wednesday, was released on condition that she made no contact with witnesses and handed in her passport to the investigating officer in the case, NPA national spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in a statement.
The matter was postponed to December 9 to allow the prosecutor to supply the accused with documents.
The charges against Ntsondwa-Ndlovu relate to a tender awarded by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to Ukhumbe Marine, a company belonging to her, for the transportation of the force’s equipment back from other African countries.
“The contract value was approximately R24 million. It is alleged that she provided false information as part of the tender process. Thereafter she was awarded another contract of R103 million, again to transport SANDF equipment,” said Ngwema.
“The soldiers were then recalled from service in the African countries and this led to the cancellation of the second contract. The accused then claimed R30 million from the SANDF whilst alleging that she had already, before the cancellation, incurred expenses to that value.”
Documents which appeared to be false were provided to illustrate the purported expenses, Ngwema added.
ANA