Charles Ugochukwu Onuaha, 53, appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday following his arrest on on April 26 in KwaZulu-Natal for alleged fraud and money laundering.
Electronic items were discovered during a search and seizure operation conducted by the City of Tshwane task team at the accused's residence in Durban.
Warrant Officer Wendy Nkabi said the City of Tshwane Task Team discovered evidence of fraud, theft and money laundering committed by Onuaha.
The money intended to be paid to a service provider for the City of Tshwane was mistakenly transferred into Onuaha's FNB account.
“It is alleged that the credentials of one of the City’s officials were used to alter the banking details of the service provider on the SAP system and service provider’s bank account number which were replaced with the accused’s bank account before the payment was effected,” she said.
Nkabi said the City Of Tshwane paid R12 127 644,51 into the accused’s account and only became aware of the erroneous payment upon inquiry by the service provider.
“The City of Tshwane immediately contacted FNB and requested it to freeze the deposit; the bank froze R9 630 735,41 only and the money was later paid back into City’s account,” she added.
According to the reports, the team discovered a copy of a death certificate belonging to the accused, which was submitted to the bank.
Nkabi said further investigation was conducted with the Department of Home Affairs to authenticate the death certificate.
“It was discovered that the certificate was fraudulent. It was also discovered that R5 million was deposited into the accused’s account shortly after City of Tshwane made the payment,” she said.
Nkabi added that the accused appeared at the Pine Town Magistrate’s court on April 29 and the matter postponed to May 6 for further investigations.
“A second appearance was then scheduled in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. The matter has been postponed for June 24 for bail application and for an interpreter to be found,” she said.
Pretoria News