Ex-municipal manager, CFO guilty of fraud

THE FORMER municipal manager at Karoo Hoogland Municipality, Louis Nothnagel, the chief financial officer (CFO), Marius Botha, and bogus company owner Ockert Tobias Cloete were found guilty on nine charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and the contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act in the Williston Regional Court yesterday.

The charges relate to undue payments that were made to a bogus company for the delivery and installation of 600 solar geysers for the community in Williston, before any services were rendered.

Hawks spokesperson, Captain Philani Nkwalase, said the accused each paid R10 000 to extend their bail following their convictions.

“Our investigation revealed the collusion between the CFO, Marius Botha, and his friend Ockert Tobias Cloete, a bogus company owner. The bogus company received undue payments for delivery and installation of 600 100-litre low-pressure solar geysers to the community in Williston,” said Nkwalase.

He added that the transactions were made between July 2011 and April 2012. “A total amount of R217 152.52 was paid to the unregistered company in four separate transactions. Initially the households were charged in advance for the installation and were later refunded. The free geyser installation programme was later carried out by Sun Power (Pty) Ltd at a cost of about R5.1 million in rebates paid by Eskom. The role of the Karoo Hoogland Municipality was to facilitate the processes.” Nkwalase indicated that the prescribed procurement processes were not followed before the service provider was appointed.

“The former municipal manager was charged for failing to prevent unauthorised and wasteful expenditure and failing to take reasonable steps to prevent corruption.” The case was yesterday postponed until August 28-30 for sentencing.