Durban — Seven former Tongaat Hulett executives will return to court on Monday on R3.5 billion fraud charges.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Peter Staude, Murray Hector Munro, Michael Edward Deighton, Rory Edward Wilkinson, Kamasagrie Singh, Samantha Shukla and Gavin Dykes Kruger will appear in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Monday.
The case was adjourned to July 25, 2022, for service of the indictment and for the matter to be transferred to the High Court.
“They face charges of fraud amounting to approximately R3.5 billion, as well as charges of contravention of the Financial Markets Act, Companies Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA),” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Kruger, who was a registered auditor and engagement partner at Deloitte and Touche, was also charged with contravention of the Auditing Professions Act.
“It is alleged that between March 2015 and September 2018, the accused acted in common purpose to misrepresent to THL, its employees, creditors, shareholders, etc. that the revenue that was derived from land sales was the correct value, correctly reflected in the financial reports when, in fact, they had backdated sale agreements.
“This resulted in incorrect profits being declared and the managers receiving huge bonuses,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
She said a case of fraud was reported at Durban North police station, and the case docket was allocated to Hawks members from the Durban Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit for further investigation.
The seven would remain out on bail with the previous conditions.
The accused were each released on R30 000 bail.
Their bail conditions include that the accused surrender all passports and travel documentation to the investigating officer by Friday and not apply for new travel documentation.
Ramkisson-Kara said the accused also sought permission from the investigating officer for any travel out of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
“This must be done 48 hours prior to the proposed trip and a travel itinerary must be provided.”
The seven had made their first appearance in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court earlier this year.
Daily News