Staff Reporter
The two people arrested yesterday on suspicion of looting funds meant for the Estina Dairy Project in Vrede were expected to apply for bail at the Bloemfontein Regional Court this morning .
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, also known as the Hawks, said the pair was arrested in an early morning operation Thursday and will face charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering worth over R244 million.
A spokesperson for the Hawks told The Free Stater that the matter is not part of the much-publicised Estina Dairy Project scandal which has since been struck off the court roll, but emanates from the alleged corruption that took place at the same project in the north-eastern region of the Free State.
“Dealing with cases of corruption, fraud or money laundering, you follow the money, and that is what we did,” Colonel Katlego Mogale said in a telephone interview.
The two suspects are a 55-year-old sole director of Rekgonne Community Projects and a former chief financial officer for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development aged 49.
They are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on Friday.
Mogale said the Hawks are at this point pursuing the matter against the two independent of the main Estina case.
In an earlier statement, the Hawks said the allegations in the matter relate to a company known as Superior Quality Trading which also trades as Rekgonne Community Projects.
“During the investigations of the Estina case it was discovered that there were irregularities in the financial flow analysis of a certain account,” read part of the statement.
“Large amounts of money (are) reported to have (been) deposited into a bank account belonging to the former chief financial officer for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.”
According to the Hawks, in June 2014, Rekgonne Community Projects entered into an agreement with the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement all projects on behalf of the department for a period of two years.
Between January 2012 and December 1, 2016, the department is said to have paid over R244 million to Rekgonne Community Projects.
“The suspects . . . received a gratification of over R260 000,” the Hawks allege.
The national head of the Hawks, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, has described the arrests as a breakthrough in the investigations.
“All those who involve themselves in looting state resources shall be secured before courts to account for their roles in looting the taxpayer’s money,” Lebeya said.
In November 2018, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) provisionally withdrew the Estina Dairy case before the Bloemfontein Regional Court saying it wanted to finalise investigations.
The NPA said at that time that investigators had faced several challenges in getting critical information from authorities in India and the United Arab Emirates where some Gupta-linked companies are said to have moved state funds meant for the project.
About R250 million meant to kickstart a dairy farming project for emerging black farmers in the town is said to have disappeared.
Several people and companies were at the time charged with corruption, theft, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and contravening the Public Finance Management Act.