The Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of a man believed to be the alleged mastermind behind the theft of more than R36 million from a Zimbabwean millionaire who died tragically in a vehicle accident.
According to provincial Hawks spokesperson Capt Matimba Maluleke, the 47-year-old foreign national businessman was arrested by the Hawks in Polokwane on 13 September after handing himself over to the police.
The case first made international headlines when the same Hawks team arrested the 28-year-old Thabiso Matenda, an FNB employee from the FNB branch in Louis Trichardt, on 10 June this year. His arrest followed the death of one of the bank's clients, Zimbabwean millionaire and socialite Mr Obert Karombe, in a vehicle accident on 24 April this year.
A day later, on 25 April, Matenda allegedly opened a profile of the late Karombe without authorisation. He then allegedly connived with an accomplice to open a new bank account, linked it to the deceased's account and started spending all the money from the deceased's account, totalling R36 989 051,67. The bank, however, picked up on Matenda's shenanigans and reported the matter to the Hawks.
Among those to allegedly benefit from this generous spending spree were a girlfriend-and-boyfriend couple from Johannesburg, the 28-year-old Zimbabwean national Nomaphelo Seti and her 43-year-old Cameroonian boyfriend, Rody Martial Nzeya.
The couple allegedly received R6 million from Matenda but started to fight over the money when the sender requested it back. The fight apparently turned violent. "When the girlfriend went to the police in Johannesburg to open a case of assault against her boyfriend, the police discovered that the money they were fighting for was actually stolen and the Limpopo Hawks were investigating the matter. The Hawks were alerted and found that R5.5 million of the R6 million that they had received was already returned to the sender," said Maluleke in an earlier media statement.
Seti and Nzeya were arrested on 17 July and appeared in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate's court shortly afterwards on charges of fraud and theft. They have since been released on R20 000 bail each. Matenda was also released on R20 000 bail.
"The suspected mastermind is expected to appear in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, 14 September, where he will be facing fraud and money-laundering charges," said Maluleke at the time of our going to press.