Pretoria – Three officials at a Piet Retief private vehicle testing station have appeared in court, charged with fraud for allegedly issuing cars with roadworthy certificates, without ever seeing the vehicles.
“Muzikayise Ngalo (52), Sameera Khalid Cajee (38) and Amarasen Moodley (47) appeared before the Piet Retief Regional court on Monday, 4 July 2022, after they were summoned by the Hawks’ Secunda-based serious commercial crime investigation for fraud,” said Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi.
The arrest of the three followed complaints that were received by the law enforcement authorities, and investigation initiated at the Piet Retief private vehicle testing station where the accused were entrapped on three occasions – in May 2018, August 2019 and April 2021.
“During the investigation, it was established that vehicle roadworthy certificates were fraudulently issued to vehicles that were not tested in terms National Road Traffic Act 93 0f 1996,” said Sekgotodi.
“Particulars of people who did not drive any vehicles to the Piet Retief testing station were fraudulently used as applicants who applied for roadworthy certificates.”
The case against the three was postponed to 26 September for further investigation.
The Hawks in Mpumalanga warned that more arrests are imminent.
In 2019, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) welcomed the cancellation of registration and permanent closure of two vehicle testing stations in Gauteng province following allegations of fraud and corruption.
At the time, the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport issued notices of cancellation of registration for the Orlando Testing Station based in Soweto and the Viking Testing Station based in Devland, both south of Johannesburg.
The de-registration of the stations follows investigations and arrests of three motor vehicle examiners and a clerk by the RTMC’s national traffic anti-corruption unit.
IOL