Pretoria - Another suspect was arrested and charged on Monday in the R130 million Cell C fraud case after he turned himself in to authorities in the presence of his lawyer.
Hilel January, 45, appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on charges of fraud and money laundering, police said.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu said January, 45, handed himself to authorities in Johannesburg.
January’s arrest bring the number of accused persons in the massive fraud at Cell C, to seven. It is alleged that they were involved in inflating invoices for services rendered.
January is accused of involvement in the fraud in which Cell C’s money was allegedly stolen using inflated invoices from IT and network service providers, Redefine Technology, Cornerstone & Blue Kit IT, and Techno Genius between 2012 and 2019.
Mulamu said January appeared in court on Monday and was released on R30 000 bail.
Last week, 37-year-old Michelle Pillay and 42-year-old Khatiya Patel appeared in the same court in connection with the Cell C fraud matter.
Patel allegedly colluded and inflated rates for the IT and network services rendered to Cell C while working as an administrator at Techno Genius during the same period.
Fraud accused Pillay is said to have received about R3m from the proceeds of the crime. The money was allegedly paid into her bank account.
The pair were released on R30 000 bail each.
Investigations revealed that Redefined Technology, solely owned by former IT manager at Cell C, January, was awarded software and network service tenders.
Cell C was billed R130m for services rendered after invoices were allegedly changed to reflect higher amounts.
As much as R47m was allegedly transferred into Techno Genius, owned by 38-year-old Adriaan Pillay whose business partner, 44-year-old Mohamed Ismail Adamjee, at the time was a Cell C executive.
They were both arrested for allegedly colluding and inflating rates for services required by Cell C.
It’s alleged that Adamjee orchestrated the theft which drained the cellphone network operator of millions of rand since 2012.
The other co-accused, Manuel Reimaldo Teixeira, 62, and Lufuno Lesly Nevhutalu, 59, were arrested early last year on a similar fraud case involving Cornerstone & Blue Kit IT.
They are out on R50 000 bail each.
All seven accused will appear on February 16.
Mulamu said investigations were continuing and more arrests could not be ruled out.
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