By OBAKENG MAJE

A man (31) briefly appeared at the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court for money laundering. Unathi Golimpi was arrested during a sting operation conducted by the Klerksdorp based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team at Soshanguve on 22 March 2024.

It is alleged that in April 2016, Tshepo Solomon Makatu (32), who was an employee for a cellphone company at Jubilee Mall, Hammanskraal at the time, defrauded the complainant by assisting unknown people to do a sim swap on the complainant’s cellphone, that was used for internet banking without knowledge nor consent from the complainant.

The Hawks spokesperson in North West, Warrant Officer Amogelang Malwetse said, a few days later, Makatu accessed the complainant’s banking app, where he added two beneficiaries to the complainant’s bank account profile. Malwetse said the amount of R820 000 was then fraudulently transferred from the complainant’s account to an unknown bank account and subsequently laundered into various bank accounts unknown to the complainant.

“Following investigations, Makatu and three other accused, Thabo Zwane (31), Lwazi Mzilem (33) and Zitha Makitla (38), were arrested in January 2024, thus Golimpi was the outstanding suspect. They were later granted R7000 bail and their case is still ongoing.

“He appeared before Court on 25 March 2024 and the matter was postponed to 5 April 2024 for formal bail application,” she said.

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