An intelligence driven operation conducted by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Johannesburg resulted in an additional suspect’s apprehension for fraud related charges of approximately R5.5 million.
It is alleged that the suspect, Thembani Gift Maswanganye (37) together with his accomplices who are remanded in custody since their arrest in February last year, Robert Owusu Asamoah (35) and Bukelwa Kwinana (31) allegedly fraudulently created a duplicate email address to launder money from a potential property buyer in August 2019.
Further investigation revealed that the suspects allegedly interrupted and re-directed the property buyer to their email address where they provided new banking details of which approximately R5.5 million was transferred in different transactions.
Maswanganye was arrested last Friday, 2 April 2021 in Giyani, Limpopo and subsequently charged for fraud and money laundering. He appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday, 6 April 2021 where the matter was postponed for the following day and joining his co-accused in the dock.
The court postponed the case to next Tuesday, 13 April 2021 for Maswanganye’s formal bail application and further investigation.
