File
The Road Traffic Management Corporation said that a prominent Mpumalanga businessman appeared in the Mbombela Magistrate Court on Tuesday for his alleged role in a vehicle licensing scam that cost the Provincial Transport Department around R60 million.
RTMC spokesperson, Simon Zwane, said 46-year-old Demieties Pieter Botes, joined 16 licensing officials and a vehicle fleet owner who were arrested last year, and jointly face 603 charges of corruption, fraud, and money laundering.
He said Botes was arrested by the Hawks on Tuesday morning and was granted bail of R15 000 and his case was postponed to 20 July.
Zwane said he faces 261 counts of fraud emanating from transactions conducted in 2017 when his fleet of vehicles that were fraudulently licensed by officials at the Mbombela Provincial Helpdesk of the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison.
He said in respect of Botes’ case, the “Mpumalanga provincial government suffered a loss of R1 005 923.40 in uncollected vehicle license fees.”
“The investigation revealed that administration clerks who worked at the Mbombela help desk and other registering authorities manipulated the eNatis system between 2018 and 2019 to assist motor vehicle owners to avoid payment of vehicle licence fees and penalties owed to the state.”
He said their modus operandi involved changing the ownership of affected motor vehicles into the name of an unsuspecting individual, a deceased person, or a dormant company.
“Fees and arrear penalties will then be passed on the unsuspecting individual or companies before vehicle ownership is changed back to the rightful owner without any debt due from the rightful owner,” he said.
