‘Miracle man’ fraudster Kasenjera sentenced to 15 years

Motherwell teacher Mlungisi Booi, above, is smiling again after Bashir Lauw Kasenjera, who defrauded him of R669,000 of his pension money in 2018, was convicted and sentenced by the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in August
FRAUD VICTIM: Motherwell teacher Mlungisi Booi, above, is smiling again after Bashir Lauw Kasenjera, who defrauded him of R669,000 of his pension money in 2018, was convicted and sentenced by the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in August
Image: SUPPLIED

Convicted fraudster Bashir Lauw Kasenjera has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

According to a statement released by the National Prosecuting Authority on Friday, the Malawian was found guilty of fraud on August 5.

Kasenjera defrauded Motherwell teacher Mlungisi Booi in 2018 of R669,000 by promising to “miraculously” turn it into R30m through contacting his ancestors.

Kasenjera was found guilty of fraud and corruption under the Contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

He was also found guilty of contravention of the Immigration Act and the Consumer Protection Act.

“Kasenjera tricked Mlungisi Booi into resigning from his teaching post to cash his pension because his ancestors would multiply it.

“During June 2017, the 44-year-old teacher saw an advertisement in the PE Express newspaper where a ‘Professor Anadkat’ promised ‘to work miracles with money’.

“The victim contacted the number placed in the advertisement, which resulted in Kasenjera visiting him at his house in Motherwell,” the statement read.

Over four months, Booi was subjected to a series of rituals, leading him to believe that Kasenjera possessed spiritual powers enabling him to contact his ancestors.

“He convinced him to resign from his employment as a high schoolteacher and promised that he would cleanse the money so that the ancestors would multiply it to R30m.

“In October 2017, Booi resigned from his post as a teacher and received a pension lump sum of just over R1m in March 2018.

“Over two weeks after receiving the pension, Kasenjera swindled a total of R669,000 from the victim.

“He convinced Booi to make a number of bank withdrawals,” the statement said.

He then convinced Booi to hand over the money to him to cleanse it, for Booi’s ancestors to multiply it.

However, Booi never received his money back, prompting him to open a case which led to Kasenjera being arrested in April 2018 in Port Elizabeth by Motherwell detectives.

When arrested, according to the statement, Kasenjera tried to bribe police with R100,000 for his release.

The docket was sent to the Hawks for further investigation.

Speaking to Weekend Post last week, Booi said Kasenjera had played on his ancestral beliefs to swindle him out of his pension.

“As a Xhosa man, I strongly believe in ancestors even though I had never had an ancestor speak to me before,” Booi said at the time.

A close friend had eventually convinced him to report the matter, he said.

“I was so afraid I was going to be mocked and laughed at that I considered walking away from it all.”

HeraldLIVE

subscribe

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.