FREE STATE – The Department of Police, Roads and Transport Regional Engineer, Wilson Oleboheng Lekwene, 39, an Engineer and Community Development Project Co-ordinator, Jones Johannes Mosia, 47, Devision Projects company director, Reabetsoe Daniel Motsoeneng, 37, the Chief Engineer, Tholang John Mosianedi, 39, and the Engineer Technician, Lebogang Godfrey Mohapi, 35, appeared before Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on 18 January 2024 on charges of fraud and money laundering.
It is alleged that during October 2018, the then Department of Police, Roads and Transport had awarded a Community Development Project to a company named Devision Projects owned by Motsoeneng, for dismantling and installation of road signs in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality. The project was overseen by the Chief Engineer within the department.
The department management at the time received information about some irregularities pertaining to the Community Development Project. The matter was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation based in Welkom for further investigations. It was discovered that the Department of Police, Roads and Transport had made payment of R387 360.23 to Devision Projects for services that were never rendered. An investigation further revealed that the company Devision Projects submitted two invoices amounting to R172 216.00 for site establishment and R215 144.23 for the completed job, though there were no services rendered. The payments were allegedly made as instructed by the officials who had a duty to visit the sites to ascertain whether the work was done or not by the selected service provider, Devision Projects.
When the department was about to make a third payment of R587 587.65 as per the submitted invoice, a site visit inspection was conducted and only then it was discovered that the service provider did not do any work as claimed and the payment was blocked.
All five accused were arrested on the 18 January 2024 and appeared in court where they were all granted different bail amounts. Lekwene was released on R7000 bail, R10 000 for Mosai, R5000 for Motsoeneng, R10 000 for Mosianedi and Mohapi was released on R5000 bail. They were instructed to hand over their passports to the investigating officer and that they should not interfere with the investigation process.
The matter was postponed to 08 February 2024.
Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=50842.