A portion of the more than R25m siphoned from the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality through a waste management company allegedly landed up in the bank accounts of mayor Mongameli Bobani and others.
The alleged money-laundering scheme is what led Hawks investigators to raid Bobani’s office and KwaMagxaki home on Tuesday.
The four-hour raid on the mayor was the second of its kind by the Hawks in six months.
This time, according to a confidential Hawks affidavit seen by The Herald, investigators believe that Bobani is at the centre of a fraud, corruption, money laundering and theft network involving municipal officials and waste consulting firm Milongani.
In the affidavit, investigating officer Captain Sibusiso Putuzo details how 43 payments, totalling R25.6m, were made by municipal officials to Milongani between 2015 and 2017.
The first invoice, claiming R1m for 3,116 hours of work supposedly done, was submitted by Milongani in July 2015 – just two days after the company was appointed by the city.
This alone raised red flags with investigators, who said it could not possibly have been correct.
“The background to this case relates to the procurement and awarding of a contract to a close corporation, namely Milongani Eco-Consulting, for environmental services on July 28 2015 at a rate of R350 per hour,” Putuzo says in the affidavit.
At the time, UDM councillor Bobani sat on the public health committee before being elected deputy mayor responsible for the same portfolio in 2016.
Putuzo, a member of the directorate for priority crime investigations, stated further that investigations had established the flow of funds from Milongani’s FNB account into a second bank account belonging to Milongani.
“The funds were later transferred from the [second] Milongani account into other bank accounts held by various entities,” he says.
This included:
● Two Absa bank accounts belonging to Bobani;
● An FNB account belonging to Dankovista (Pty) Ltd, with Rukaard Abrahams listed as the director;
● An Absa bank account in the name of Hluma Creations Waste Project, with former ANC councillor Monwabisi Gomomo as director;
● A Standard Bank account in the name of 4 Sisters Trading, with Thuneka Buti and Amanda Ngolothi as directors; and
● The personal FNB account of Milongani director Mpho Nangammbi, along with two other FNB accounts in the name of Milongani.
“Some of the funds were later withdrawn by the individuals in bulk forms and could not indicate normal business transactions,” Putuzo wrote.
“In other instances, the funds were then transferred to various entities and/or individuals.
“The transactions from the said accounts indicated that the funds were laundered through various accounts held by numerous individuals and entities.
“This was done to enable or assist persons to remove or diminish the funds acquired by means of criminal activity.”
He writes further that the investigation, which is being guided by a prosecutor, is at an advanced stage.
Others that were raided were public health officials implicated in Putuzo’s affidavit, including environmental services director Joram Mkosana, acting executive director Andile Tolom, project manager Thabo Williams, then acting waste management director Nkosinathi Dolo and intern Vuyokazi Bazi.
Mkosana, Williams and Dolo had all been suspended, with their laptops and cellphones confiscated during a raid in April 2017.
But their suspensions were lifted by the council in February, against the advice of the legal firm that was hired to evaluate the strength of the cases.
Tolom, who was suspended for circumventing the city’s recruitment process linked to the Milongani contract, was back at the helm as acting executive director of public health barely two weeks after his suspension was lifted.
The Hawks investigation was sparked by a report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers into the Milongani contract.
Bobani attended a joint mayoral and budget and treasury committee meeting on Wednesday, which he handed over to his deputy, Thsonono Buyeye, to chair.
Asked to comment on the raid at his office and home, Bobani initially laughed hysterically.
He said later: “I’m not going to comment on the raids by the Hawks anywhere on my side. You deal with that with my lawyer.
“We will deal politically with the DA’s propaganda campaign in terms of smearing my name.
“They think they can single out or use my name to achieve their goal – they will never succeed.”
His lawyer, Danie Gouws, as well as advocate Terry Price SC were present during the raids of the mayor’s office and property, which commenced shortly after 11am on Tuesday.
Gouws said Bobani had cooperated fully with the police.
“The search did not uncover anything.
“We commend the police for doing their jobs but enough is enough now, this is clearly a political ploy ahead of the elections and they need to back off now,” Gouws said.
A municipal insider, who was at the Lillian Diedericks Building when the Hawks arrived to serve warrants to three of the officials from the public health department, said the investigators had walked into a meeting.
“The investigators came in and asked to speak to public health political head Yoliswa Pali and pulled her aside to tell her what they wanted and who they wanted.”
Another insider said: “We were meant to have a public health meeting [on Tuesday] but that was cancelled due to the arrival of the Hawks.
“The mayor was also taken by the Hawks to his house.”
Gouws, who is also representing Mkosana, Tolom, Williams, Dolo, Bazi and Abrahams, said there was no further comment to make at this stage.
Buti and Ngolothi could not be reached for comment.
Acting city manager Peter Neilson said all the officials were at work on Wednesday.
When called for comment, Nangammbi said: “Can you call me in 30 minutes? I am in the bank.”
However, he then failed to answer numerous follow-up calls.
Gomomo confirmed that he had done work for Milongani but said that it amounted to roughly R30,000. “But my company is clean. Anyone can come take a look. There is nothing there,” he said.
Gomomo said his company had helped Milongani by educating residents on how to deal with waste correctly.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said search-and-seizures of the properties belonging to several other officials implicated in the alleged fraud would continue until the end of the week.
In October, the Hawks raided Bobani’s office and seized documents, cellphones and laptops in another probe linked to the siphoning off of funds from the Integrated Public Transport System.