Pretoria - The Bafokeng Magistrates' Court on Thursday released 39-year-old police officer stationed at Lethabong on R500 bail for allegedly committing fraud.
Moses Moeketsi and his accomplice Susan Malunga have been charged with 14 counts of fraud and one charge for defeating the ends of justice.
Malunga was released on warning.
Its alleged that that between March and June 2021, Moeketsi was in cahoots with Malunga who was a petrol attendant at a local filling station.
“The pair allegedly used three state motor vehicles petrol cards to fill fuel which exceeded the number of kilometres the said vehicles travelled after the initial transactions.
“They would after successfully claiming fictitious transactions, share cash to enrich themselves. The State has due to these fraudulent activities, suffered a loss of approximately R16 000.00,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone.
The Provincial Commissioner of North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena applauded the Provincial Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit for their commitment in the fight against fraud and corruption.
He reiterated that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that corrupt employees are exposed.
The matter was postponed to 5 April.
In another similar incident, employees of the coalition-run Bitou Municipality have been implicated in a petrol card scandal involving the fuelling of private vehicles using municipal petrol cards.
The scam was revealed last week by a concerned member of the public, who handed over evidence of the alleged fraud to mayor Dave Swart.
Swart said he had passed on the evidence to the acting municipal manager, Noel Van Stade, who has since launched an investigation assisted by the municipality’s governance and compliance manager.
“An investigation is under way to determine the extent of this fraudulent use of municipal petrol cards including those that are allocated to vehicles in the Bitou Municipality fleet.”
A statement issued by the municipality said that the investigation has led to the confiscation of four petrol cards not linked to any particular municipal vehicle.
Swart said action would be taken against anyone in the municipality found to have been involved in any irregular activity to waste public money.
IOL