Three suspects aged between 38 and 49 were expected to appear before the Welkom Magistrates Court on Monday facing charges of fraud, theft, uttering and forgery after allegedly selling fraudulent taxi permits to some operators about three years ago.
The suspects were arrested in Welkom over the weekend by the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation team based in the gold mining town and the Provincial Anti-Corruption team.
The Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo says their arrests originate from an incident which took place in 2019 when provincial traffic officials were conducting a stop-and-search operation in Welkom.
“During their operation they discovered that some of the taxi permits were fraudulent,” said Singo in a statement.
“They then conducted their preliminary investigation where they discovered that the fraudulent taxi permits were bought from the suspects by the victims (for about) R156 000. It was also discovered that the face value documents were stolen from the traffic department in Welkom,” he added.
Singo said the matter was reported to the Hawks for further investigation which culminated in the arrest of the trio. – Staff Reporter