NORTHERN CAPE – The Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team assisted by their Bellville counterparts arrested additional suspects on the ongoing case of fraud and money laundering. The operation arrests follows the arrest and charging of the main accused Pius Emokpe (49) in May 2022. The arrests took place on Wednesday, 25 January 2022 in Bellville, Cape Town.

Juany Michaels (24), Lulama Dilimeni (33), and Shafwaan Fakier (47) made an appearance before the Kimberley Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Thursday, 26 January 2023. The accused’s arrests comes after an investigation which revealed that bank accounts registered in their names, were used for money laundering whereby, money from on-line dating scams was deposited in their accounts. The main accused Pius Emokpe worked with the trio to defraud unsuspecting victims. The victims suffered a loss of approximately R4 million.

The case was postponed to Monday, 02 February 2023 for bail application information. Investigation on the matter continues.

Source: South African Police Service