March 12 (ANA) – The former acting commander of the Mount Fletcher policing cluster and commander of Mount Fletcher police station in the Eastern Cape was found guilty of fraud on Friday, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) said.
Colonel Majoro Petros Moraba was sentenced in the Mount Fletcher Regional Court to a year in jail or a R10,000 fine, the Hawks’ Lieutenant Anelisa Feni said.
“In 2012 Colonel Moraba approached Mr Bilal Khan, a businessman in Mount Fletcher, to build for him 10 small residential flats next to the Mount Fletcher police station. He said he planned to rent these out to people who sought accommodation.
In exchange for building the flats, Moraba said he would give Khan a portion of the land as payment. Moraba had assured Khan that the land next to the police station belonged to him, but in reality it belonged to Elundini Municipality. Khan agreed, unaware that the land did not belong to Moraba.
“Thereafter, Colonel Moraba delivered two land transfer documents to Mr Khan. One dealt with transferring part of the land from Elundini Municipality to Colonel Moraba while the other transferred another portion of the land from the municipality to Mr Khan. Both documents contained a fraudulent signature from the municipal manager,” Feni said.
When Khan received these documents he became suspicious because approval of the transfers had been unusually quick. He subsequently sought advice from his lawyer, who at the time happened to be Elundini Municipality’s legal advisor. The attorney then contacted the municipal manager who had no knowledge of the two transactions.
The matter was referred to the Hawks for investigation in July, 2013. Moraba decided to resign from the SA Police Service (SAPS) before his first appearance at an internal disciplinary proceeding instituted against him by the SAPS.
He first appeared in Mount Fletcher District Court, but the case was later transferred to the Mount Fletcher Regional Court where Moraba was found guilty and sentenced on Friday, Feni said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
