A fourth suspect was not arrested because he co-operated with investigators.
THREE suspects were set to appear in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) of Covid-19 relief funds.
Two of the suspects are policemen.
The trio were arrested on Monday by the Germiston Serious Corruption Investigation unit and their peers in Durban.
The suspects allegedly illegally banked more than R692 000 from the UIF that was meant for a company called National Adhesive.
According to Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu, National Adhesive applied for Covid-19 UIF relief funds for its employees and its application was processed.
“It however emerged that the company’s banking details were fraudulently changed and an amount of R692 185.55 was deposited into a different bank account,” Mulamu said in a statement.
Upon further investigation, it was found that the account into which the money was deposited belonged to a police officer from the Durban Central Tactical Response Team.
The officer then allegedly transferred the money into different bank accounts which belonged to another police official and two civilians.
Warrants of arrest were issued for the two police sergeants and one of the civilians; however, the fourth suspect was not arrested, because he co-operated with the investigators.
Around R240 000 of the illegal proceeds have been frozen and the remaining amount is in the recovery process.
“The investigation team has also seized an NP200 bakkie as well as a stand that was purchased through the proceeds of crime. Both will be forfeited to the state,” said Mulamu.
– African News Agency (ANA)
