The Hawks have arrested five officials in the Matjhabeng Municipality in the Free State on charges of fraud, forgery and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The accused have appeared briefly in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court and were released on bail ranging between R8 000 and R15 000.
They will be back in court in May.
Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale says one of the accused allegedly facilitated the appointments of the others which resulted in the municipality losing over R1 million.
“The accused who are aged between 36 and 55 are part of the ongoing investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation into corruption related to activities within the municipality in the country. The suspects are alleged to have been part of the investigation by the national task team into fraud, forgery, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act within the Matjhabeng Local municipality. It is reported that one of the suspects facilitated appointments of the other accused which resulted in the municipality being prejudiced an actual loss of over R1 million,” explains Mogale.
#sapsHQ Free State, Welkom: Five Matjhabeng Local Municipality employees arrested by the National Clean Audit Task Team. #FightingCorruption MEhttps://t.co/Jyzw9DwmvR pic.twitter.com/fwtOYHYi3r
— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) March 23, 2021
