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A businessman appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday on 15 charges including 12 counts of forgery.
It is alleged Charles Jean Blume pocketed commission for goods that were never sold.
Blume, owner of CJ Blume CC, trading as Evergrow, acted as a sales agent for Efekto Care (Pty) Ltd in the Eastern Cape region.
According to the state, during April 2016 Efekto received an order from Die Korporasie, Humansdorp, for goods totalling R36,429.32 which Blume collected for delivery to Die Korporasie and for which he claimed commission.
It is alleged that Die Korporaise never placed the orders and therefore did not receive the goods and that the purchase order provided by Blume to Efekto in respect of Die Korporasie was forged.
The state further claims that during May and July 2016, Efekto received various purchase orders from Builders Warehouse, George, through Blume amounting to R2,163,318.05.
In court documents it is alleged that during the ordinary course of business, Efekto would deliver goods directly to the retail store in question.
However, Blume requested that the goods be delivered to his business warehouse in George with the undertaking that he would deliver the goods to Builders Warehouse, George, on Efekto’s behalf.
Court documents reveal that date stamps of Builders Warehouse on invoices produced by Blume to Efekto as proof that the goods were delivered had, in fact, been forged.
According to the state, Blume had kept the goods received from Efekto for himself while receiving commission of R250,656.57 in respect of the alleged sales.
Blume faces two counts of fraud in that on April 20 2016 he allegedly pretended to Efekto that Die Korporasie had ordered goods valued at R36,429.32 from Efekto and presented a falsified purchase invoice to Efekto.
Blume is further accused of 12 counts of forgery for the allegedly forged proof of delivery documents for goods purportedly delivered to Builders Warehouse in George.
Blume was released on R3,000 bail and is expected back in court on June 22.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani said the postponement was because Blume’s legal representative still needed to obtain copies of the docket.