LIMPOPO – The former Chief Financial Officer at the Collins Chabane Municipality will appear before the Palm Ridge Specialized Commercial Crimes Court today following his arrest on Thursday.

The Hawks’ spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo said the man was arrested for his alleged involvement in unlawfully and irregularly investing municipal money with VBS Mutual Bank and will appear for contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act.

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“It is alleged that on October 23, 2017, Collins Chabane Municipality invested R120 million with VBS in contrary with the Municipal Finance Management Act. The erstwhile Municipal Manager, Charlotte Ngobeni has since been arrested on the same matter by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Task Team members in March 2021 and released on R50 000 bail. Ngobeni will appear again on May 9,” her statement read.

Around 20 municipalities in the Limpopo, North West and Gauteng areas lost nearly R1.6b after illegally investing with the VBS bank.

Mbambo said the Hawks’ investigations into the VBS saga is at an advanced stage and a total of 27 suspects have been arrested so far.

“More arrests are imminent,” Mbambo said.