Four suspects from the Eastern Cape have been charged with theft and contravention of the Organised Crime Act in the Gqeberha Serious Commercial Crime Court.
The provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the group were arrested by the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in collaboration with the Priority Crime Specialised Investigations as well as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Ronaldo Henry Jason, 52, Ruwayne Eddie Luppan, 35, Roual Rowell Shelby Martin, 30, and Quewin Kirsten September, 25 were arrested on Friday.
At the time of the alleged crime, the four were employed at Minileit Company (Pty) Ltd based in Sidwell, Gqeberha.
“During the period between April 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022, the four accused persons allegedly acted in a common purpose to misappropriate stock that was in the form of platinum plates which were sold unlawfully to nearby scrap metal businesses.
“It is further reported that all the accused successfully sold platinum plates for their personal gain and cash was directed into their pockets,” Mhlakuvana said.
An internal investigation was conducted by the company where it later picked up ‘red flags’ and thus referred the matter to the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Gqeberha to probe.
“It is further reported that more investigations were conducted and revealed that the company suffered a loss of over R6.3 million,” Mhlakuvana said.
The four men made a brief appearance in court on Friday, July 7.
They were each granted bail of R500 each.
The matter was postponed until July 20, for legal representation for the accused to come onto the record.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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