Tycoon’s R9 million bus ‘fraud’

Mashaba arrested again when appearing in court for another case

SUSPECTED fraudster Howard Mashaba was arrested again at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court yesterday before making an appearance.

The businessman was apprehended and charged with failure to disclose previous convictions when he applied for bail.

Mashaba only disclosed one of his convictions, apart from the reckless driving conviction. Mashaba also failed to disclose another of reckless driving and a fraud conviction.

He failed to disclose the two convictions when he was applying for bail with co-accused Grace Maunatlala for allegedly trying to defraud major banks of almost R22 million.

“In law you are supposed to disclose your previous convictions when you are applying for bail,” said prosecutor Richard Chabalala. The State is opposing his bail application.

The pair briefly appeared in Court nine where their case was postponed to December.

Both cases will be back in court next week.

They are accused of using Magitrax, a front company, to move R7m from a Nedbank account into an FNB account. They also used it to purchase 11 Mercedes Benz buses in a deal worth R9.2m.

It is alleged that he submitted false financial statements to the banks about the strength of his business in order to get the buses.

Mashaba also allegedly got a person to sign as the loan surety.

A source close to the alleged scam said the person pretended to be the wife of his late uncle when they signed as surety.

“When the payments for the trucks were not coming, the sheriff went to her aunt to seize her goods.”

The source said Mashaba was confronted by her and said he would “fix the problem”.

The source said this caused the aunt to be blacklisted. Further allegations against Mashaba are that he assaulted a crime intelligence officer and the officer’s brother in Giyani.

It is also alleged that the assaults were not investigated because of Mashaba’s close friendship with a Giyani station commander.

He is also said to have numerous fraudulent accounts with major banks like FNB, Nedbank and ABSA.