Patrick Patrese Jones, a supposed Doctor of Theology and published author, is the subject of an intensive manhunt over his links to an R14.7 million Eskom fraud case.
How Patrick Patrese Jones allegedly defrauded Eskom
In a statement, Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi revealed that Jones, who’s due in court alongside four other accused on Monday, 28 August 2023, disappeared after he posted R100 000 bail.
Investigations into Jones’s alleged Eskom scam can be traced back to April 2013.
According to Capt Sekgotodi, evidence gathered thus far suggests Jones, real name Patricio Jose Figueiredo, allegedly lured a former Eskom Senior Buyer Thandeka Innocentia Nkosi, into a sophisticated tender scam valued at R14.7 million.
While Hawks investigators were cautious about revealing the details of the alleged fraud, it’s believed Jones launched a shell company Angel Frost Investments (Pty) Ltd with his mother, Rabela Sarah Jones, as the sole director and his brother, Godfrey Jason Jones as the designated signatory.
A financial paper trail used to build the case against Jones showed that he allegedly used his girlfriend, Maria Cantelo, as the business representative in the Eskom tender application process.
Thanks to the services of an insider, Jones’s shell company was fraudulently awarded R14.7 million and the entire sum was paid to Angel Investments’s Standard Bank business account.
It’s unclear what exactly these funds were used for.
What happened to the R14.7 million Eskom tender?
However, between 2013 and 2023, Jones, according to his The Conversation author profile created in June 2022, not only did he allegedly obtain two doctorates from the University of South Africa, but he also wrote a book titled Decoding Jesus, published by SBPR Books.
The whereabouts of Patrick Patrese Jones are unknown and the Hawks have turned to the public for help tracking down the alleged fraudster.
“Anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of Jones is urged to contact the investigating officer Captain Philani Twala on 071 481 3437. All information received will be handled confidentially,” Captain Sekgotodi pleaded.
Here’s what we know about Patrick Patrese Jones
While the alleged fraudster was quick to delete his social media pages, we tracked down Patrick Patrese Jones’s Wix website, where he describes himself as an author, the head of Galilee Ministries, the founder of Figueiredo’s Institute of Public Speaking and an entrepreneurial coach.
While we could not confirm Patrick Patrese Jones’s origins, we were able to build a profile on the man accused of defrauding South Africa’s embattled electricity supplier of millions.
On his ‘About Me’ page, Jones claimed he graduated from Helderberg College, a private higher learning institution situated in Somerset West, Cape Town, in the early 90s.
After allegedly securing a Marketing Management qualification, Jones apparently ventured into the real estate industry and, in his own words, ran Mpumalanga’s first agency owned by a young person of colour.
With his business supposedly thriving, Jones was struck by a calling to pursue Theology in the United States.
“It is that voice of calling, that prompted me to leave behind, a thriving business, including a white Mercedes Benz of the later models at that time, and as it were― forsaking my three brothers and only sister, my mom and dad, and embarked on what would become an extra-ordinary long journey that lasted for almost four days and four nights, by both air and land,” Jones writes.
In his writings, Jones did not indicate in what year he returned to South Africa. He admitted, however, that he resumed his real estate dealings, which, at the time, were “weak and flickering.”
We now know that this real estate business may be linked to the R14.7 million tender defrauded from Eskom, which, by the way, could have financed his affinity for luxury he bizarrely substantiated using Jesus’s robe as a reference.
“My favourite clothing is Italian and French brands. Dress code of good taste is a way of life for me. So how do I resolve this seeming contradiction? I answer: Jesus’ robe was not cheap! If it was, why would pagan soldiers fight over it? From the cross to the tomb where He was buried are traits of wealth! He is the author of wealth! He was buried in a wealthy man’s tomb,” Jones wrote.
Jones’s alleged co-conspirators, his girlfriend Maria Cantelo (53), brother Godfrey Jason Jones (46), mother Rabela Sarah Jones (71), Eskom’s former Senior Buyer Thandeka Innocentia Nkosi (42) and Angel Frost Investments as a separate entity, are due in a Nelspruit court on Monday, 28 August 2023.