Rustenburg - A 57-year-old woman arrested in connection with an investment fraud amounting to R3.2 million pleaded guilty to charges against her.
Maria Magdelina Trevorou was found guilty and convicted at the Klerksdorp Regional Court on Monday.
According to the Hawks, she operated an unregistered investment scheme and recruited several people to invest money with her company between 2006 to 2009.
“Multiple complainants deposited an all-inclusive to the estimated value of R3.2 million into her bank account hoping for profit. None of them received their interest nor their invested capital as promised,” said Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase.
“The matter was reported to the Klerksdorp based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and she was later served with summons (J175) to appear in court. The matter has been at Regional court since 20 January, 2020.”
Trevorou pleaded guilty on 20 charges fraud and contravention of the Bank Act and was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, wholly suspected for five years with conditions that she was not found guilty of similar offences.
In a separate incident, police in Mpumalanga said they have arrested Reginald Francisco De Maura Tomas, 32, and Reginaldo Joao Tomas, 30, after they were found in possession of 58 plastic bags containing 53kg of crystal meth, worth about R53 million in street value, was recovered.
The two were arrested during a stop and search operation conducted by Kaapmuiden police Komatipoort K9 on Tuesday.
“It took a blink of an eye for the police dog to respond to the drugs which were concealed in different compartments of their South African registered vehicle with Gauteng registration plates,” said Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala.
He said preliminary investigations indicated that the vehicle was not reported stolen.
“Both suspects made a brief appearance at Barberton Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Wednesday, and remanded in custody for the second court appearance in Low’s Creek Magistrate’s Court today, Thursday 19 January 2023,” he said.
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