Mpumalanga officials arrested for fraudulent vehicle license disc renewal amounting to R60million

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Photos: Hawks

The alleged suspects aged between 35 and 54 were arrested on allegations of Fraud, Theft and Money Laundering amounting to R 60million.

Mpumalanga Police Spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi said the suspects, Thembi Millicent Motlohi (43), Allman Thabani Masuku (35), Xoliswa Celia Ngcekwane (52), Nompulelo Winnie Nxumalo (44), Agnes Nosipho Ndzinisa (54) and Mbombela Registry authority Nkosinathi Samuel Gumede (37) were arrested during a joint operation by the Hawks Nelspruit based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in a joint operation with Road Traffic Management Corporation ( RTMC), National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit ( NTACU) and Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on Mandela day.

Sekgotodi said the investigations on the suspects commenced on December 2018 following a tipoff about employees who were illegally extending expired vehicle license disc to the owners without following proper procedures.

“The case was opened by the Hawks for further investigation. During the investigation, it was established that the former employees of Department of Community Safety colluded with the motorists after they saw the opportunity of trucks owing large amount of money whereby the officials would manipulate the system and extent the expiration dates of the vehicle licence discs and re-issueing the new disc that showed zero balance.”

She added that the owners would then pay money directly to the said employees instead of the department. The money amounted to the reported R 60million.

They were both released on R 15 000 bail same day pending further investigations.

They will appear again on September 29.