Two suspects were finally arrested after a lengthy and lengthy investigation into alleged fraudulent transactions at the Eastern Cape Department of Education. More than R3 million was stolen from this department about ten years ago.
Capt. Hawks spokeswoman Lloyd Ramovha said in a statement on Tuesday that Moses Justice Luthuli, 56, and Owen Bruce James, 41, were accused of becoming involved in a syndicate in 2010 as service providers of the department. stolen.
According to Ramovha, the syndicate in question illegally gained access to the department’s finance department’s computers to obtain passwords and usernames.
At that time, about R3.1 million was transferred to various syndicate bank accounts through 14 fraudulent transactions. The money was initially paid to four local schools that were listed as beneficiaries.
According to Ramovha, an investigation by the Hawks later revealed that these payments were never approved by the department. A closer investigation was then launched into the department’s service providers as they had access to the department’s IT infrastructure at the time.
According to the statement, James was arrested in February this year in Turffontein, Johannesburg, after which Luthuli was arrested on Friday in Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal in connection with the fraudulent transactions.
James has since appeared in court several times and is expected to appear again in the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court on June 3.
Luthuli, meanwhile, was released on R2 000 bail. He will appear in court again on July 23.
Ramovha said the Hawks expect to make more arrests soon.
