The Director of JP Funeral, Lerato Paul Petla aged 59 has pleaded guilty to one hundred and ninety-two (192) fraud charges when he appeared in the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 20 October 2022.
Petla was on 12 October 2022 served with summons to appear in court for allegedly contravening the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002.
The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation received a complaint in March 2022 about a funeral parlour that was operating without a license.
An intensive investigation was conducted and it was established that the funeral parlour has been providing its clients with funeral services for more than 25 years.
In terms of the act mentioned above, a license is required before conducting funeral parlour businesses or carrying out relevant services.
The case was postponed to 25 October 2022 for sentencing.
More investigations on other funeral parlours that are not registered with the authorities are underway.
