Festival fraud accused in court
Prominent Bay businesswoman remains in custody
ACCUSED of mismanagement or embezzlement of funds from the Richards Bay Diwali Committee NPO to the tune of R75 000, businesswoman Rhana Naicker appeared in court on Friday. The 58 year old was arrested and charged with four others Gloria Naidu (60), DeeAnn Huripursad (32), Nana Tsati (66) and Bongani Masuku (43) - last Tuesday.
All accused were remanded in custody for their bail application last Friday, where accused 2 to 5 were granted bail of R4 000 each.
Naicker’s case, which had a charge of interference added, was rolled over to this past Monday for finalisation and for her bail application.
Her bail was denied by the court. The crimes of fraud were confirmed as committed between 4 December 2020 and 16 March 2021, where it is alleged that Naicker and Naidu, who were part of the Richards Bay Diwali Committee and signatories on the NPO's account, made fraudulent transactions to themselves.
Payments were also allegedly made to Huripursad, who is the daughter of Naicker, and Tsati and Masuku, who were then municipal staff and assisted in the application for the
R80 000 contribution for the annual Diwali event from the City of uMhlathuze.
When investigating officer in the matter, Provincial Commercial Crimes Investigation unit head Lieutenant Colonel VC Pillay presented evidence in court pertaining to the interference charge, he tendered an affidavit from the complainant in the matter, community leader Ray Govender, which stated that he had been approached by others, orchestrated by Naicker, with the intention of persuading him to drop the fraud charges.
Govender, a ward councillor in the City of uMhlathuze, had feared that Naicker, who was well connected, could cause him reputational harm in the runup to the elections.
Pillay had no objection to bail, but feared the accused would reoffend or interfere with the case.
In judgment, the court heard how Naicker had a fraud conviction from 39 years ago, as well as three pending fraud cases from 2015, 2022 and 2023, all involving fraud of large sums of money.
The court found that the Diwali fraud matter had occurred while Naicker was out on bail for the 2015 case, which is currently in the Durban Specialised Commercial Court.
The court found that Naicker had 'complete disregard for the law and committed this offence, and there was a likelihood that if released, would reoffend'.
The matter was adjourned to 19 June for a regional court appearance date to be set.