Seven suspects – together with native government officers and a former African Nation Congress (ANC) spokesperson – have been charged with fraud in a South African court docket.
The defendants appeared in court docket comply withing an investigation right into a 27 million rand (£1.2m; $1.6m) authorities tender.
The investigation discovered that 5 years in the past the provincial authorities in Gauteng signed a contract with an organization named Enviro-Mobi for waste administration companies.
Enviro-Mobi didn’t disclose that it had hyperlinks to ex-ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, who was an MP on the time, a police statement mentioned.
The suspects weren’t requested to enter pleas however Mabe and his spouse denied the allegations.
The court docket listening to befell on Wednesday after the seven suspects had handed themselves into South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks.
Alongside Mabe and his spouse, the defendants included two executives from Guateng’s provincial authorities.
All seven accused have been awarded bail on the listening to, which befell in Ekurhuleni, a municipality simply east of the town of Johannesburg.
Outdoors the courthouse, Mabe advised native media he was stepping down from the ANC’s govt committee, however “not as a result of he’s responsible”.
The contract in query stipulated that Enviro-Mobi ought to obtain upfront payments and that cash ought to solely be handed to the corporate after a portion of its work was accomplished, police spokesperson Thandi Mbambo mentioned.
Nevertheless, the Hawks’ investigation discovered that Gauteng’s Division of Agriculture paid Enviro-Mobi 25 million rand for 200 automobiles, although the products have been “nonetheless within the possession of the service supplier”. —BBC
