8 housing fraud accused, including directors, appear
Crime activist Hanif Loonat and Cape Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams outside the Cape Town Central Police Station where they laid charges against City of Cape Town officials for alleged corruption and fraud . l PHANDO JIKELO/AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY (ANA)
Cape Town - Eight accused, including the directors and employees of The Construction Company (TCC), made a brief appearance in court on charges related housing fraud to the tune of over R2 million.
The hearing at the Cape Town Magistrate's court yesterday (Friday) centred around outstanding evidence to get the case ready for trial.
Counsel for the State, Advocate Esmeralda Johnson told the court that the outstanding cash flow analysis was early yesterday.
Johnson asked to be granted time to peruse the evidence to satisfy herself that the investigation was indeed complete.
Thereafter the State would also be able to finalise the charge sheet.
The TCC 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 with fraud.
Two City of Cape Town employees, Alistair Stanbul and Adam Majiet, who are now retired, were 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.
One of the accused, Kannemeyer, was not present in court as he was working on an undisclosed island.
Magistrate Ronel Oliver ruled that the State provide the defence with copies of the cash flow analysis and any other evidence they were not in possession of by June 9.
She also granted the State time to finalise the charge sheet by July 6 and the parties to return to court on July 14.
Oliver also ordered Kannemeyer's legal team to provide his whereabouts to the Investigating Officer, Captain Andre Pekeur.
In 2022, crime activist Hanif Loonat, working with the Cape Coloured Congress, blew the lid off the alleged fraud at the City's Human Settlements Department.
In March, police conducted a search and seizure operation at the offices of Mayco Member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi, as part of their investigation into allegations of fraud related to housing tenders.