IPTS funds used to buy PE house
A house purchased by a company linked to alleged fraudster Andrea Wessels was bought with funds meant for Nelson Mandela Bay’s Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS).
The high court in Port Elizabeth found yesterday that the R850,000 Couldridge Crescent property in Schauderville from where Wessels ran her events company, Zeranza 299, had been purchased with ill-gotten funds meant to be used for the bus system.
Wessels has been embroiled in a protracted court saga linked to her alleged involvement in siphoning off millions of rands intended for the beleaguered system.
The property will be auctioned, with the proceeds going to the National Treasury.
Wessels, and her co-accused – former EP Rugby president Cheeky Watson, former assistant director in the metro’s finance department Nadia Gerwel, former Laphum’ilanga Transport Services director Mandisi Mkasa and former Access Facilities and Leisure Management CEO Stephan Pretorius – face charges of fraud and money-laundering.
Judge Pops Mageza said on Tuesday that the National Director of Public Prosecutions had proved its case that the Uitenhage property was bought with the proceeds of crime.
At least two other Summerstrand properties as well as a house in Uitenhage, a number of cars and other moveable assists have been seized.
Tuesday’s judgment and subsequent seizure of properties forms part of an attempt to recoup some of the almost R13m Wessels allegedly used fraudulently with money intended for the IPTS.
The trial involving Wessels, Watson, Gerwel, Mkasa and Pretorius is set to begin on August 20 in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court.