A Zambian national accused of fraud and money laundering is granted bail. Image: Twitter/@ewnreporter
Zambian national accused of stealing over R5 million granted bail
A Zambian national accused of stealing over R5 million is granted bail and expected to appear at the Special Commercial Crimes Court.
A Zambian national accused of fraud and money laundering is granted bail. Image: Twitter/@ewnreporter
The Rustenburg Magistrates’ Court granted the accused Evan Mutale 44, a R10 000 bail.
The matter will appear in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 21 April 2023, for a pre-trial date to be decided.
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The accused confirmed as a foreign national
The verification process discovered that he is a Zambian national but has a fixed residential address as well as properties in South Africa.
He is also confirmed to be working in the country and has no previous convictions.
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The accused is facing 21 charges of fraud and three alternative charges of money laundering.
His court appearance comes after his arrest by the SAPS’ Provincial Commercial Crime Unit on 12 April 2023, in Rustenberg.
He was subsequently charged with stealing over R 5 million, from Jaira Constructions and Projects, where he was employed as an accountant, responsible for managing accounts, payroll, and loading payments.
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Arrested for unlawful transactions
It is alleged that between September 2019 and November 2020, the accused fraudulently transferred money into an account belonging to an individual who has no links to the company but is known to him.
These transactions were allegedly done under the pretense of paying a service provider for services rendered to the company.
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In the process, the accused deceived his supervisor to make final authorisations for money to be transferred into his accomplice’s bank account.
Investigations revealed that some of this money was later transferred to his bank account.
This led to the state charging the accused with money laundering, and Police are not ruling out the possibility of making more arrests.
