The Hawks have seized a vehicle worth R1.4 million belonging to a senior official at the Mogalakwena Municipality in Mokopane in Limpopo on Tuesday morning.
Limpopo Hawks spokesperson Matimba Maluleke says the vehicle was seized as part of their investigations into tender corruption at the Mogalakwena municipality.
It was taken from the official’s home at Ga-Pila outside Mokopane.
“We have seized this luxury vehicle. We are investigating the allegations of corruption at the Mogalakwena Municipality. We received information that this vehicle was allegedly bought with the proceeds of crime. The information is that actually, the people who have applied for tender bought this vehicle for one of the senior officials at Mogalakwena Municipality,” explains Maluleke.
Meanwhile last week, the Hawks in the province said there was a possibility of further arrests being made after four people were arrested in connection with the theft of R4.8 million belonging to Makgatho Community Property Association.
The suspects, aged between 51 and 70, appeared in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Maluleke says the suspects allegedly plotted to irregularly award a farming tender to a company linked to the wife of a senior municipal official.
“So far, we have arrested four suspects. We cannot rule out the possibility of arresting more suspects because we thought we were only arresting three but we arrested four, so we cannot rule out that possibility. As the investigations are on-going anything is possible,” says Maluleke.
Last week, a countrywide Hawks swoop saw the arrest of some senior African National Congress (ANC) members in the Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Some of the arrests were as a result of the evidence given at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in Johannesburg.
Political Analyst Aubrey Matshiqi discusses the recent arrests of several government officials and business people by the Hawks:
