DURBAN - Nadeem Arshad, 39, was sentenced to 18 years direct imprisonment by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court for 27 counts of fraud and money laundering.
Arshad was sentenced on Friday.
Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said Arshad was also ordered to pay back R4.1 million by the end of this month.
Mhlongo said that before his arrest in March 2016, Arshad deposited cheques of two businesses that were closed in 2015 into an ATM and immediately transferred cash into various bank accounts. The bank then discovered that those cheques of R11.4m were invalid and a case of fraud was reported at the Berea police station and a case docket was allocated to the Hawks members from Durban Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for intensive investigation.
“Arshad was arrested in September 2016 and he appeared in court several times until he was convicted and sentenced (on Friday). He was also ordered to pay back R4.1m by the end of this month,” Mhlongo said.
Last month, the same court sentenced five former traffic officials from the uMngeni Local Municipality for fraud.
The Hawks had received information from the Road Traffic Management Corporation about fraud and corruption activities at the uMngeni Municipality Testing Centre.
It was discovered that officials were assisting applicants to pass their learner’s test. Investigations revealed that examiners were pointing out correct answers to learners on the computer screens. As a result, the learners would pass the learners test. A gratification of up to R3 000 was allegedly paid by each learner prior to the test.
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