Multimillion-rand fraud case postponed

The multimillion-rand fraud and corruption case against a Waterfall Investment Company employee and a Johannesburg Water employee was yesterday postponed by the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

Irving Steyn, Yvette Scheepers and Faisel Abrahams were the accused in the matter.

Yesterday, prosecutor Richard Chabalala told the court the charges against Scheepers, who worked in accounts, had been dropped. He also requested postponement of the matter to allow for further investigations.

Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi acceded to the prosecutor’s request and postponed the matter to November 29.

Speaking outside the court, lawyer Kuvashen Padayachee, representing Scheepers, said: “Our client has resigned and we are not sure if the other employee, Steyn, was in fact disciplined.

“Scheepers has resigned from Waterfall Investment Company as she didn’t believe that she would get a fair hearing since the company refused to respond to a request made by our client for further particulars in any detail ...

“It was becoming apparent to us that the company sought to make our client a scapegoat. The decision by the state to withdraw the charges against our client indeed speaks volumes.”

Scheepers, who was accompanied by her family, was visibly excited after charges against her were withdrawn.

Steyn and Abrahams are out on R5 000 bail each.

In May, the City of Johannesburg said it had obtained R8.2 million from Waterfall Investment Company, which owns Waterfall Estate – the company accused of stealing water using illegally installed meters. – ANA