GAUTENG – An eighth accused in the alleged theft of R3 Billion, Shunmugam Linga Moodley (66), has been arrested on Monday, 07 November 2022 and consequently appeared in the Palmridge Specialised Commercial Crimes court today where he was granted R100 000-00 bail.

Moodley is Director of Lateotorque Pty Ltd. He reportedly benefited over R670 million from the illegal deal.

Previously, seven arrests were made in this case, Michel Marten (62), Manyanca Vanessa Marten (47), Dirk Auverne Vorster (42), Adele Babs Vorster (41), Mahendra Bennideen (37), Dannisha Bennideen (37) and Ritesh Maharaj (41).

They have all appeared in the same court facing charges of theft, fraud and money laundering. The court granted the group bail ranging from R30 000 to R70 000 on 27 October 2022.

It is reported that the accused, comprising of three couples, whom the husbands and an individual worked at the chain company, Northern Spark Refinery (Pty) Ltd, Northern Spark Security (Pty) Ltd, and  Northern Spark Investment (Pty) Ltd where Mr Vorster, Mr Marten and Mr Bennideen worked as the finance officers. It is re-counted that the above three accused stole and laundered the company’s money worth approximately R3 billion from the corporation’s account into their personal accounts, spouses’ accounts and into other company’s accounts that were not in business with Northern Spark (Pty) Ltd from the year 2016 until 2021.

The company conducted an internal investigation and later opened a case where the matter was transferred to the Johannesburg based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in February 2022 for further analysis.

Further investigation revealed that the money was stolen, laundered and shared among the accused for personal enrichment. A warrant of arrest was issued where the couples were arrested at their residential places, Bennideen’s in Randburg, Marten’s in Heidelberg, Vorster’s in Balfour and Maharaj in Bedfordview on Saturday, 22 October 2022. The case has been postponed to 19 January 2023, where the group is expected to appear alongside each other.

The Hawks’ Provincial Head, Major General Ebrahim Kadwa applauded the investigation team for their meticulous investigation in this case. “It is unfortunate that these employees abused their positions for self-enrichment,” stated Maj Gen Kadwa. 

Source: South African Police Service