State allowed an extension to probe City of Cape Town housing fraud case

The state has been granted more time to continue its investigation into an alleged housing fraud in the City of Cape Town involving millions of rands.

Cape Town magistrate Ronel Oliver heard the state's application for the postponement in the matter on Thursday after it was remanded last week.

The case involved Ilitha Painters and Decorators trading as The Construction Company which is a service provider to the City.

The company is charged along with its directors, Asif Khan and Abdul Karrim Khan as well as employees Uwais Khan, Irfaan Khan, Craig Kannemeyer and  Abdulatief Abrahams.

Two City of Cape Town employees,  Alistair Stanbul and Adam Majiet, now retired are also among the accused.

It's been the state's case that the employees of the company including the directors allegedly supplied false invoices to the City and allegedly misrepresented some of the work they charged for as being completely finalised.

Majiet and Stanbul allegedly allowed the invoices to be authorised even though they knew the work was not completed.

Today, the state argued for a postponement of the matter on the basis that it needed at least a month to carry out an analysis of cash flow statements after the investigating officer Captain Andre Pekeur testified that some discrepancies were detected.

Pekeur said he first submitted an application for the bank statements in 2021.

However, due to discrepancies detected he asked for more bank statements to cover a five year period.

The court also heard that investigators were working with the Cybercrime unit to help download data obtained during the search and seizure operations.

The  downloading of the data was now completed, the court heard today, but still needed to be further analysed.

Captain Pekeur also testified that the Cybercrime Unit was experiencing a backlog as it was short staffed and load shedding hampered its work.

In response to a question by the magistrate, Pekeur told the court that out of an initial seven staff members of the Cybercrime Unit, two were now handling the work after two resigned, and another two were promoted.

The remaining two reported to a commander, he added.

"I have been assured that the unit is working overtime on the work and it will be completed as soon as possible,“ said Pekeur.

However, both legal representatives for the accused argued that the matter should be struck off the court roll as the investigation was incomplete and there was no guarantee that the investigation would be completed soon.

Liddell also argued that the defence team only received a draft charge sheet, which was made available after the set deadline.

"The state first investigates to arrest and not arrest to investigate. In this case, the state brought my clients before the court before its case was ready," Adv Reuben Liddell argued.

The defence told the court a further postponement would prejudice the accused financially and psychologically.

Magistrate Oliver said after taking into consideration all the arguments she was satisfied with the reasons advanced for a postponement.

"I am satisfied that the application for a postponement is not a delaying tactic. The delay is purely systemic.

"My experience with court matters has also shown that the Cybercrime Unit is the most neglected unit in terms of staffing", said Oliver.

The matter was postponed to May 26.