FREE STATE – Three senior government officials, a former Head of Department and a retiree from the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development were arrested by the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation team on Monday for alleged corruption, fraud and money laundering of over R244 million.
The suspects aged between 39 and 59-year-old are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Regional court on Tuesday.
The allegations against the five suspects relate to a company known as Superior Quality Trading, which also trades as Rekgonne Community Projects. During the investigations of the Estina case, it was discovered that there were irregularities in the financial flow analysis of a bank account.
In June 2014, Rekgonne Community Projects entered into an agreement with the Free State department of Agriculture and Rural development to implement all projects on behalf of the department for two years.
Between 2012 and 2016, the department is said to have paid more than R244m to the company.
Former Free State Agriculture Chief Financial Officer Sylvia Dlamini (49) and current Deputy Director General at the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as businesswoman Malikomo Mohapi (55) were arrested by the same Hawks team in July this year after they uncovered an alleged elaborate fraudulent scheme.
Both suspects are out on R10 000 bail each pending their next appearance on 10 September 2020.