Nishani Singh, one of two siblings accused of defrauding Investec Bank of millions of rands, has died in hospital.
The Department of Correctional Services on Sunday confirmed to IOL that Singh died at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Saturday. Her family has since been informed.
“She had been referred to an external hospital on numerous occasions for tertiary medical care,” said DCS national spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo.
“Correctional Services is unable to disclose the cause of death but such is made available to the family by the hospital.”
IOL previously reported that Singh and her brother Rushil Singh, were in custody on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering valued at R150 million, reportedly to fund their business in Ghana.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) alleged that the Singh siblings fraudulently submitted false Stanbic Guarantees when they applied for working capital facility of R35 million.
They allegedly further applied for a term loan agreement of over R150 million on April 2021 when they were directors of Big Business Innovations Group (Pty) Ltd between January 2021 and March 2023.
The Hawks said the Singhs exhausted the working capital facility and breached the term loan agreement.
Hawks spokesperson, Captain Lloyd Ramovha, said Investec Bank demanded guarantees from Stanbic Bank.
“It was then established that the two guarantees were obtained fraudulently. As a result, Stanbic suffered an actual loss of over R150 million,” he said.
Rushil was arrested on August 26 and Nishani handed herself over to police the following day.
They appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and bail was denied.
The pair then lost their appeal against the court’s decision not to grant them bail as they were deemed flight risks.
Rushil remains in custody.
IOL News