Power outage delays R2m e-mail hack bail application

THE bail application of three Johannesburg men accused of stealing close to R2-million by hacking into emails between an East London attorney and a homeowner was yesterday disrupted by a sudden power outage.

East London bail court magistrate Nazeem Joemath was scheduled to hand down judgement when the electricity blackout occurred at about forty minutes past noon in the middle of arguments.

Moments earlier senior state prosecutor advocate Deneshree Naicker had told the court why she was opposing bail against Tholsienathan Shamoogan Pillay, 53, Pedro Pinto, 54, and Julius Uka Okoro, 48.

It is the state’s case that the three men hacked into e-mails between Nahoon attorney Jeremy Neil Cocks, who was attending to the transfer of a Beacon Bay house valued at R1.8million owned by Heidi Pearson.

The three were arrested in Johannesburg two weeks ago by members of the specialised commercial crimes unit and have been in custody since then.

According to the charge sheet, Cocks’ secretary Maureen Macwilliams communicated with Pearson during the process of the house sale via e-mails.

The court earlier heard that after the hack, Cocks Attorneys transferred R1 808 288.66 into an FNB account belonging to Pillay’s business in KwaZulu-Natal.

Upon receipt of the payment from Cocks Attorneys, Pillay allegedly transferred R499 288.66 on June 20 to an FNB account belonging to David Osei.

A sum of R1 200 000 was transferred on June 20 to the FNB account belonging to Pinto.

The court further heard after receiving the R1.2-million, Pinto, accompanied by Pillay, visited Gold Reef City Casino where they cashed in R950 000 for gambling.

Addressing the magistrate yesterday Naicker said the three men were a flight risk.

“There is a likelihood that the accused will abscond trial because there is evidence against them,” she said.

“The court will be taking the biggest gamble if it grants the accused bail and the money will never be found if the accused are released,” Naicker said.

The court heard that Pinto had a previous conviction of fraud relating to a 2006 case involving R1.6-million from a KwaZulu-Natal municipality.

He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 2012 which he served.

“Pinto does not say where the money is, only that he is willing to pay it pack in four months if released on bail and if he is not going to suffer civil lawsuit,” Naicker said.

Shortly after the power outage the case was postponed to tomorrow for judgment.