Pretoria - Four accused people have been convicted and sentenced by the White River Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga for fraud and corruption in connection with the issuing of South African passports to foreign nationals from Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi listed the four as Faud Mohammed Ali, 37, Christopher Marillier, 39, Gabriel Samuel van der Merwe, 33, and 31-year-old Sifiso Kheswa.
“The accused were arrested by the Middelburg-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation after the exploration linked the accused to the crimes in terms of the Immigration Act.
“During 2021 and 2022, a Department of Home Affairs official allegedly colluded with South African citizens to assist foreign nationals from Pakistan and Bangladesh to obtain South African passports by using their identity documents,” said Sekgotodi.
The foreign nationals would fraudulently replace the South African owners’ photos with theirs and assumed the names of the South African citizens.
“The accused were each sentenced to R100 000 fine or three years imprisonment for charges relating to contravention of Immigration Act. They further received R40 000 fine or 12 months imprisonment each.
“The case against Nhlanhla Mathebula, 40, a Home Affairs official was postponed to March 9, 2023 for trial,” said Sekgotodi.
Last year, a Home Affairs official who allegedly issued a fraudulent passport to a Bangladeshi national who became popularly known as, ‘Lebogang from Bangladesh’, was arrested in June.
South Africans were taken aback in May when a man from Bangladesh tried to leave the country using a passport with his picture, and the name Lebogang Ndlovu.
Fahim Kazi’s name went viral as “Lebogang from Bangladesh” when he was arrested on May 12, 2022.
Spokesperson for the Minister of Home Affairs, Siya Qoza said the woman Home Affairs official who allegedly fraudulently issued the passport is based at the Benoni office.
Qoza said the official was caught during a multi-disciplinary operation by the Department of Home Affairs Counter Corruption Branch, together with the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies.
IOL