The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) has confirmed the arrest of a former Merafong Local Municipality senior official for allegedly illegally depositing funds into the collapsed Venda Building Society (VBS) Mutual Bank.
Mattheys Gerhardus Wienekus, 64, a former senior official in Merafong, appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Thursday after being subpoenaed to face charges of contravention of the Municipality Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 in the ongoing investigation linked to the bank.
“The suspect, who was arrested this morning, was employed at Merafong Local Municipality as Manager: Budget and Treasury until his retirement,” said the Hawks in a statement.
Investigations have revealed that over R50 million was invested with VBS Mutual Bank at the time when he was acting as the municipality’s CFO.
Merafong Local Municipality is one of the 20 other municipalities that invested municipal funds with VBS, in contravention of the law.
Wienikus’s case has been postponed to 29 July 2020 for further investigation.
“I have indicated that the investigations into the municipalities are at an advanced stage. This is the beginning and all the other cases are receiving the necessary attention,” said the National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Dr Godfrey Lebeya.
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