Four suspects recently appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on racketeering and fraud charges linked to the scam that saw Sasol defrauded of R279 million.
Meet the masterminds behind this sophisticated Sasol scam
The masterminds behind this quarter-billion rand heist, Pragasen Reddy (40), Siviwe Mafanya (55), Sibusiso Khumalo (48) and Douglas Rikhotso (41), were released on R15 000 bail each.
Two other suspects could not make the scheduled court appearance. One was confined to self-isolation as a result of exposure to the coronavirus (Covid-19). The other resides in Cape Town and non-essential travel restrictions are still in place under Level 3 Lockdown.
According to Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, all six suspects in the racketeering charge played a hand in defrauding Sasol of R279 million, and so did First National Bank (FNB), inadvertently.
How Sasol was defrauded of R279 million
Based on the evidence, it is believed that between January and June 2011, a former FNB bank manager from the Hyde Park branch, in Johannesburg, colluded with the suspects in issuing a falsified bank guarantee letter for Lavela Petroleum Pty Ltd, Imvuselelo Petroleum and Gas, and an unnamed entity owned by the suspect in self-isolation (suspects who have not made a court appearance can’t, by law, be identified by name).
A bank guarantee letter is a means of proof that the lender (in this case, FNB) will ensure that the liabilities of the debtor (the three companies listed above) will be met.
In other words, the FNB bank manager, using the falsified bank guarantee letter, increased the companies’ credit facility “to buy fuel from Sasol Oil,” at the tune of R279 million.
A financial paper trail links the suspect in quarantine to a kickback payment to the rogue bank manager for services rendered and it’s believed that the transaction between the joint entities and Sasol took place.
However, it all fell apart when “FNB discovered that the guarantees were falsified and refused to honour them.”
When is the next court appearance
Drawing the shortest stick, Sasol took the quarter-billion rand loss and the case was handed over to the Hawks, who, in the last nine years, have been piecing together the intricacies of the sophisticated scam.
The suspects are facing three charges of racketeering, eight charges of fraud and two charges of corruption. The case has been postponed to Thursday 1 October 2020.
