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An Eastern Cape police officer and an accomplice have been found guilty of fraud and defeating the ends of justice in a Road Accident Fund matter.
Hawks provincial spokesperson, warrant officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, said 50-year-old Mandlenkosi Njekanye, stationed at Qumrha (formerly Komga), and 45-year-old Xolani Somtsewu, were convicted in the East London regional court this week.
They were arrested in 2023 for coercing another officer to change the details of an accident report involving Somtsewu where a passenger in his vehicle had passed away.
An inquest docket was opened into the 2020 accident on the N2 near Qumrha.
Mhlakuvana said about a year after the accident Njekanye, who was one of the officers on the accident case, and Somtsewu, went to the Qumrha police station where they convinced an officer to alter the initial report so that a claim could be lodged with the RAF.
He said the officer initially refused, but was "coerced" into altering the report and a claim was subsequently lodged.
Mhlakuvana said the RAF discovered the discrepancies between the original report and the altered version and the Hawks were alerted.
“The investigations by the Hawks established that Njekanye and Somtsewu colluded in an attempt to claim for an accident by changing the accident report that would have prejudiced the RAF to a cash value of nearly R5 million,” Mhlakuvana said.
The two are out on bail of R500 each and sentencing proceedings are expected to commence on 14 May.
