Hawks arrest second official

THE Hawks in the Eastern Cape have arrested a former Joe Gqabi District Municipality official who is accused of money-laundering, fraud and theft.

Corly van Rooyen, 41, was arrested just two months after another official, Gabriel Naude, 63, was arrested in September for the same crimes.

According to Hawks provincial spokeswoman Anelisa Feni, the two – who used to work at the technical services department in Joe Gqabi – submitted fraudulent claims amounting to hundreds of thousands of rands over a period of seven years.

“This happened between 2004 and 2010.

“They allegedly claimed funds fraudulently from the municipality to the total amount of R600 000.

“They are also accused of transferring this amount to their personal accounts,” Feni said.

On Monday, Van Rooyen was arrested by the Hawks serious commercial crime unit.

On the same day, she appeared before the Elliot Magistrate’s Court on charges of fraud, theft and money laundering.

Van Rooyen was granted R3 000 bail and both their cases have been remanded to June 29 and 30 next year for trial.

“While in court, the sheriff and the curator served the two accused with a preservation order from the Asset Forfeiture Unit to have their assets to the value of R600 000 frozen,” Feni said.

● The search for a missing Port Alfred woman that was shared hundreds of times on social media since she disappeared on Monday afternoon, has ended in tragedy. Police spokesman Captain Mali Govender said Telkom technicians working near Grahamstown yesterday spotted 42year-old Gina Smith’s black Fiat Palio several hundred metres down a cliff on West Hill. She said rescue workers spent several hours trying to recover her body, which had been flung from the car.

“The cause of the incident is unknown.”

Smith, who worked at a local estate agency, went missing on Monday and her friends and family put posts on Facebook, which were widely shared, appealing for help to find her. —