JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (ANA) – The trial of three former employees from the labour department’s Compensation Fund, who are accused of allegedly defrauding the department of R476,150, was on Wednesday, postponed in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court due to failure of one of the accused legal representatives to show up.
Department of Labour spokesperson Teboho Thejane said Maxwell Ramaphosa, Samuel Mfeleng and Kgabo Johanna Methi have pleaded not guilty and are facing three counts of fraud and four counts of money laundering.
The trio are out on a warning, while Mfeleng’s lawyer failed to appear in Court.
“The fraud trial has been dragging on since 2011. The accused first appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. The Court will now sit on 22 June 2017 to hear the matter,” Thejane said in a statement.
“In this matter Ramaphosa, Mfeleng and Methi are alleged to have been working with fellow accused Dr Jones Mothemola Modau, a physiotherapist based in Rustenburg, North West. It is alleged that Ramaphosa, Mfeleng and Methi recruited Modau to submit fraudulent claims which were later processed and payments were paid into his accounts, and money was later shared.”
Thejane said that Modau pleaded guilty in March 2012 in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where the matter was originally heard, for defrauding the department’s Compensation Fund.
“For his role in the matter Modau was sentenced to five-years suspended.”
Thejane added that the matter involving Ramaphosa, Mfeleng and Methi was subsequently transferred to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in a separation of trial.
– African News Agency (ANA)
