Bay fraud trial postponed

THE fraud trial of former CEO of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini's Bayede Foundation, Rhana Naicker and her co-accused, Adriel Vadiveloo and Ravi Naidoo was on Tuesday postponed after two of the accused appeared at eSikhawini Magistrate's Court.

It was postponed to 10 April owing to a medical-related non-appearance of the attorney of one of the accused, as well as the non-appearance of Vadiveloo on what should have been the first day of trial.

It is believed he had mixed up his dates and was travelling from out of town, but was at court the following day.

A warrant of arrest was issued for Vadiveloo on Tuesday, but revoked on Wednesday and his bail conditions reinstated.

The accused were in July 2022 charged with defrauding complainants Simivert (Pty) Ltd of R650 000.

It is alleged that Naicker teamed up with her co-accused in 2016, pretending to be representatives of the Ingonyama Trust Board to defraud and misrepresent the Makasa Community Trust.

Naicker is alleged to have invited potential investors to buy into a fictitious business opportunity to erect a shopping centre development, and then fled with the funds.

The scam involved making investors believe they would benefit from the proposed land development scheme, however, the lease agreement was fictitious and there was no intention to facilitate the development.

The complainant reportedly believed they had entered into an agreement as developers with the Makasa Community Trust on four occasions.

They were reportedly instructed that the trust wanted the funds as a gift for the lease, but the money was actually paid into the personal bank accounts of the accused.