By Thys Khiba – The accused Chilleroy Floyed Buys appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty for fraud and money laundering on Wednesday, 28 September.
The 40-year-old has been ordered by the court to pay back R300 000 to Standard Bank and Wesbank on a monthly installment of R5000.
This comes after Mosa Harington Tseleli (39) who was an employee of Standard Bank facilitated the process of completing a vehicle finance application and personal loans for his co-accused persons, Buys, Simon Cornelius Botha (49), Glen Ceasar Crouch (34), Jolene Crouch (38), and Veronica Crouch (33) without meeting the requirements in 2017.
“After the deals were fraudulently approved, the accused bought several high-end vehicles such as BMW, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen,” said Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo.
Singo confirmed due to the fraudulent activities, Standard Bank and Wesbank were prejudiced and suffered a total loss of more than R6 million.
“The matter was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team based in Bloemfontein for further investigation which culminated to the arrest of six accused on 10 February 2020,” said Singo.
The court sentenced Buys to 12 years imprisonment which was wholly suspended for five years.
He was also sentenced to 12 months correctional supervision.
Meanwhile, the trial against his co-accused is ongoing.
Recently, Free State Central Newsreported Harrismith Magistrates ‘Court convicted accused Thandeka Mlangeni (34) for fraud and money laundering in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act as well as contravention of Electronic Communications and Transactions Act on Thursday.
The conviction of Mlangeni comes after the matter was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Bethlehem.
Standard Bank through a preliminary investigation conducted by its forensic investigator discovered Mlangeni issued a fraudulent bank card using another client’s details.
“She then transferred R1 million to a bank account belonging to her boyfriend, Hopewell Mpanduli Daguma (34),” said Hawks provincial spokesperson, Captain Christopher Singo.
Daguma is already serving his 10 year sentence which he received on 15 April 2021.
Singo indicated that a further R51 000 was also withdrawn from the same victim’s account. This is believed to have happened between January 2020 and February 2020.
The case against Mlangeni was remanded to 28 November 2022 for sentencing.
CENTRAL NEWS
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