Trio arrested for defrauding KZN education dept of R85m

Raj and Radharukmoney Gopi as well as Harichans Rampersad have since appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court.

Police said the trio colluded together to defraud the department. Picture: iStock

The Hawks have arrested three people for defrauding the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Education of R85 million.

Members from Pietermaritzburg Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in KZN arrested the trio on Tuesday for fraud, money laundering as well as contravening the Income Tax Act.

Raj Gopi (59), Radharukmoney Gopi (61) and Harichans Rampersad (61) have since appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court.

Millions stolen

Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said the trio colluded together to defraud the department.

“It is alleged that the accused colluded and defrauded the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal through cover quoting. They allegedly created fictitious enterprises through which they engaged in cover quoting, as a result legislated procurement processes were evaded in order to guarantee the award of various contracts to enterprises of the syndicate.

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“An amount of more than R85 million was paid by the department during the financial year 2012/2013 and 2016/2017. A case of fraud was reported at Pietermaritzburg Police Station and the case docket was allocated to the Hawks members for further investigation,” said Naicker.

He added that the trio were remanded in custody following their court appearance.

“The case was postponed to 10 July and more arrests are expected.” Naicker said.

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Outa lays criminal complaint against Nsfas CEO

Meanwhile, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has laid criminal complaints against Nsfas CEO Andile Nongogo, as well as one of his former colleagues and two others, for fraud and corruption.

Nongogo is also the former CEO of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA).

Outa said it has asked for a police investigation into the conduct of Duduzile Mwelase, a senior manager at SSETA, and Anania Baloyi and Ngwenya Baloyi, both from Five Stars Communications and Projects CC, which is a SSETA service provider.

Outa’s complaint is over the branding of a tender box that Five Star provided for SSETA.

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