Former Tongaat Huletts senior executives charged for R3,5 billion fraud appear in court

Durban: The seven former Tongaat Huletts senior executives charged for R3,5 billion fraud made their first appearance in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court Court earlier today.

The accused: Peter Staude, Murray Hector Munro, Michael Edward Deighton, Rory Edward Wilkinson, Kamasagrie Singh, Samantha Shukla and Gavin Dykes Kruger, faces charges of fraud and contravention of the Financial Markets Act, Companies Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).

According to Natasha Kara, NPA’s provincial spokesperson, Kruger, who was a registered auditor and engagement partner at Deloitte and Touche, was also charged with contravention of the Auditing Professions Act.

Tongaat Hulett Limited (THL), which is registered on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, has several subsidiaries, one of which is Tongaat Hulett Developments.

“It is alleged that between March 2015 and September 2018, the accused acted in common purpose to misrepresent to THL, its employees, creditors, shareholders, etc. that the revenue that was derived from land sales was the correct value, correctly reflected in the financial reports when, in fact, they had backdated sale agreements.

“This resulted in incorrect profits being declared and the managers receiving huge bonuses.”

Kara said a case of fraud was reported at Durban North Police Station, and the case docket was allocated to Hawks members from the Durban Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit for further investigation.

Kara said the accused were each released on R30 000 bail.

Their bail conditions include that the accused surrender all passports and travel documentation to the investigating officer by Friday and not apply for new travel documentation.

Kara said the accused also seek permission from the investigating officer for any travel out of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

“This must be done 48 hours prior to the proposed trip and a travel itinerary must be provided.”

She said, this was with the exception of Wilkinson who advised the court through his legal representation that he has travel commitments in March. He will surrender his passport on his return,” said Kara.

The matter was adjourned to April 11.