The rumour mill is in overdrive throughout Ladysmith after the homes and businesses of four members of the same family were raided by the Hawks on Wednesday morning.

The four suspects have been named as Mohammed Saleem Saleem, his wife Naseema Banu Banu, his daughter Sumaya Shaik and his sister-in-law Yasmin Bibi Dawood Shaik, all of whom are scheduled to appear in the Ladysmith Regional Court in January for allegedly defrauding the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education of a whopping R8 million.

According to the High Court affidavit, the suspects, aged between 30 and 54, allegedly committed the crime between January 2005 and October 2009.

The allegations were investigated by the Durban Commercial Crime Unit. They investigated alleged tender fraud allegations at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s Ukhahlamba Regional Service Centre.

Mohammed Saleem Saleem has been charged with colluding with family members to register close corporations and companies with the Companies & Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) and KwaZulu-Natal provincial treasury supplier database.

In some instances, Saleem registered a close corporation on behalf of his relatives and submitted three invoices to create the impression that they were different applications. The successful bidder was either Saleem’s entity or the entities he used when cover-quoting. The department has suffered prejudice to the value of R8,110 033,71  million as a result of the unlawful actions according to the High Court affidavit.

Cover-quoting refers to a procurement irregularly designed to undermine the cost efficiency of purchases by compromising the competitive bidding process.

In cover-quoting, alternative quotes are obtained from, or prepared in, the name of related parties (who later turn out to be all related to the same entities or related to the same people).

The suspects first appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on August 31 and the matter was adjourned to January 15, 2016. The matter, however, came to local police attention when the Hawks raided property belonging to the accused in terms of Section 26 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998.

“We can confirm that the Durban Commercial Crime Unit are investigating a case of fraud that allegedly occurred between January 2005 and October 2009 where the department was allegedly defrauded of cash. Six suspects, aged between 30 and 54, were arrested and they appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court. The case was remanded to January 15, 2016,” said police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane.

It is believed the two other suspects arrested may be members of at least two other syndicates operating at the same time.

The Hawks were in Ladysmith on Wednesday to take inventory of assets belonging to the four Ladysmith accused.

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