CAPE TOWN, August 28 (ANA) – A former municipal manager at Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo is to be sentenced on Tuesday on five counts of fraud and one of money laundering, together amounting to R225,900.
Sentencing proceedings commenced on Monday in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
Thandile Wilbarforce Salman, 34, pleaded not guilty to all charges, and still maintains his innocence.
Two other municipal officials from Oudtshoorn, Ronnie Lottering and Noel Petersen, have already been found guilty on charges of violating the Municipal Financial Management Act, and are currently out on bail pending the outcome of their appeal against their five-year prison sentences.
At Monday’s hearing, prosecutor Ezmerelda Johnson led the testimony of the current municipal manager, Allen Paulse, who said that the municipality had had to be placed under administration twice as a result of management fraud, maladministration and corruption – the first time in 2007, and again last year.
Salman was arrested in 2012, following investigations involving the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawk) Serious Commercial Crime Unit.
According to the charge sheet, Salman fraudulently obtained draft or pro-forma invoices and quotations. From these, he produced fake invoices and quotations, which he falsely claimed were issued by legitimate service providers for work done, and also requested payment.
The court heard that he diverted the money, fraudulently obtained, into bank accounts of friends and family.
– African News Agency (ANA)
