With the Gqeberha high court officially embarking on a seven-week recess, with only urgent matters being dealt with, Weekend Post looks back at some of the headline-making stories which shocked the public.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit was dealt a heavy blow on Tuesday after the Gqeberha high court discharged a provisional restraint order against properties owned by various entities linked to a host of businesspeople embroiled in a multimillion-rand fraud and racketeering case.
The volume of evidence in the multimillion-rand fraud trial of former EP Rugby Union head Cheeky Watson and others accused of siphoning off money meant for the Bay’s Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) has resulted in another postponement.
Large sums of money meant for the good of Nelson Mandela Bay residents, through the R298m injected into the Bay’s beleaguered Integrated Public Transport System, was siphoned off within a single financial year.
The multimillion-rand fraud and racketeering trial involving Nelson Mandela Bay businesspeople, high-ranking officials and politicians accused of siphoning off money meant for the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) will return to the Gqeberha high court in five months.
In less than a month, more than R8m, meant to be used for the beleaguered Integrated Public Transport System, was paid into one of the business accounts of Fareed Fakir.
Tenders continued to be awarded despite the municipal manager’s disapproval and the bid committee not being in agreement with the appointment of some service providers during the pilot phase of Nelson Mandela Bay’s beleaguered Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS).
An investigation initiated by the National Treasury into how much had been paid to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for the implementation of the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) is what led to forensic investigators uncovering an alleged scheme by high-ranking officials, municipal employees and business people.
Volumes of exhibits, including nine lever-arch files containing bank statements of those allegedly involved in the multimillion-rand Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) fraud case, set the tone for proceedings in the high court on Monday.
Not only brothers in name, they were also brothers in arms in business in an alleged “well-oiled” machine set up to pilfer millions of rand meant to be used for the Bay’s beleaguered Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS).