The Hawks arrested nine people in connection with a multi-million rand fraud case in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
The accused include two former municipal officials, two influential community office bearers and five business people.
A spokesperson for the Hawks Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase says the suspects are facing multiple charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering related to the 2010 Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) project.
He says the money laundering exceeds an actual loss of R56.4 million while the potential loss is around R200 million.
The suspects, aged between 30 and 65, handed themselves over to the Hawks at the Mount Road police station early on Friday morning and were expected to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court later in the day.
They will be charged along with six entities.
The tenth suspect, the former Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Mongameli Bobani is being laid to rest on Friday after passing away from Covid-19 last week.
The Hawks allege that the suspects operated a syndicate with a common purpose to unlawfully circumvent the prescribed procurement processes to irregularly and fraudulently benefit specific suppliers or consultants.
It is further alleged that influential office bearers colluded with municipal officials and controlled decision-making in the appointments of specific persons in critical municipal posts.
Lieutenant Colonel Nkwalase says this was done to influence procurement processes as well as the appointments of entities willing to advance the interests of the syndicate.
The alleged objective was to ensure a steady stream of unlawful payments from the Municipality to members of the syndicate where the funds were distributed to other syndicate members.
Lieutenant Colonel Nkwalase says Friday's arrests form part of the second part of their investigation into the IPTS fraud.
In April 2017, the former boss of EP Rugby, Cheeky Watson, along with former municipal employee Nadia Gerwel and three others, Andrea Wessels, Mandisa Mkaza and Stephan Pretorius were also arrested in connection with the matter.
