Two men and a woman appeared at the Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court after their arrest for fraud, corruption, theft forgery, and money laundering.
It is alleged that in October last year, Vusumuzi Phakane had access to information on RDP houses around Emalahleni and colluded with Justice Sambo to sell the houses. The two approached Caroline Kgoalane and used her the advertise the houses on social media.
“The unsuspecting victims would respond to the advert seen on social media and be directed by the syndicate to the Municipality offices to complete the agreement of sale forms. They would be further advised to go to the lawyers for the agreement and the victims became convinced that the sale is legitimate. They would be told to make the payment into Sambo’s Nedbank account. The syndicate allegedly shared the money amongst themselves,” read the Hawks statement.
Various victims produced documents as proof of purchase for the same house. According to the Hawks, the victims lost approximately R300 000.00.
The matter was then reported to the Hawks. During the investigation, it was established that the lawful owners of the houses are alive. The suspects were then linked to the allegations, traced, and arrested.
Phakane and Kgoalane were each released on R10 000 bail while Sambo was remanded in custody because he has previous convictions. The case was postponed to August 20 for Sambo’s formal bail applications.
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