A Saldanha Bay businesswoman has appeared in the Vredenburg Magistrates’ Court on fraud charges relating to a R26 million Saldanha Bay Local Municipality security tender.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalla, businesswoman Wanda McCarthy allegedly misrepresented her company when bidding for the tender some five years ago.
“The winning company was required to provide 77 security guards to the towns, inclusive of day and night shifts. The security guards were required to be qualified to level-C and possess legitimate PSIRA certificates. The company was also required to provide labour and transportation, with 10 vehicles registered in the service provider’s name at the time of bidding.
“Scrutiny of the company found that the accused had made misrepresentations, stating that her company had a workforce of between 400 to 600 employees and a registered fleet of over 10 vehicles.
“Between February and March 2018, the company’s bank statements reflected payments to 27 employees for February 2018, 90 employees for March 2018 and 90 employees for April 2018, with a total of R357 273.00. This meant that the company had an average of 69 employees between March and April 2018,” Ntabazalla said.
He added that further investigations found that she had also allegedly misrepresented the number of vehicles that the company owned.
The tender was subsequently cancelled two years after it was awarded having already paid some R13.8 million to McCarthy.
“The State alleges that the accused’s actions were both unlawful and intentional to the extent that the unsuccessful service providers were prejudiced, and incurred a substantial amount of money to pursue the appeal which was fraudulently awarded to the company. As a result, other prospective tenderers and the municipality suffered actual loss and prejudiced in the amount of R13.8,” Ntabazalla said.
She was released on R20 000 bail and is expected back in court on 21 August.
Meanwhile, two suspects have appeared in the Rustenburg Magistrates’ Court also on charges related to fraud in a tender for high mast lights awarded by the Rustenburg Local Municipality.
NPA regional spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the two, Obakeng Mokgale and Orebotse Tlale, are former employees of the municipality and were arrested and face four counts of fraud.
The two have since been dismissed from the municipality.
“All procurement processes were duly followed for the tender to be awarded. Investigations reveal that the tender was awarded to a company that was not compliant, owing to the fraudulent documents that were submitted in order to be awarded the tender. The two were notified of the noncompliance but continued to recommend for the tender to be awarded to the said company.
“The company is said to have also submitted fraudulent invoices amounting to more than R1.7 million for a service that was not rendered. The accused continued to sign the procurement documents, pretending to have seen the service that was rendered, for payment to be processed,” he said.
The two were granted R30 000 bail and are expected back in court on 15 August. – SAnews.gov.za
