Durban - The seven former Tongaat Huletts senior executives charged over R3.5 billion fraud made their third appearance in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court Court on Thursday.
The accused are Peter Staude, Murray Hector Munro, Michael Edward Deighton, Rory Edward Wilkinson, Kamasagrie Singh, Samantha Shukla and Gavin Dykes Kruger.
They face charges of fraud amounting to approximately R3.5 billion, as well as charges of contravention of the Financial Markets Act, Companies Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).
It is alleged that between March 2015 and September 2018, the accused acted in common purpose to misrepresent to Tongaat Huletts Limited, its employees, creditors, shareholders and more, that the revenue that was derived from land sales was the correct value, correctly reflected in the financial reports when, in fact, they had backdated sale agreements.
This allegedly resulted in incorrect profits being declared and the managers receiving huge bonuses.
Natasha Kara, the provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecutions Authority said the matter was postponed to July 25 for service of the indictment and for the matter to be transferred to the high court.
“They will remain out on bail with the previous conditions,” she said.
Their bail amount was set at R30 000 each.
IOL