A real estate employee appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Courton Thursday on charges of fraud.
Riaan Theunissen, 36, faces over 400 charges of fraud.
The Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as Hawks), Lieutenant Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi said Theunissen’s appearance comes after a warrant of arrest was executed against him.
Theunissen is accused of misappropriating funds from his employer Just Properties based in Table View to the tune of R5.5 million.
“Theunissen allegedly misappropriated funds from his employer, namely, Just Properties based in Table View from June 2016 to August 2023. He disguised and facilitated irregular payments in the PayProp system's payments module by archiving certain transactions and not following the company's approval, payment policies, and procedures. Upon investigation by Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, Theunissen was consequently charged on 461 counts of fraud to the amount of R5,502,000,” Vukubi said.
Theunissen made a brief court appearance.
He was granted bail of R30,000 with certain conditions attached.
The matter has been postponed until February 27, 2025, for a regional court date.
In a separate incident, the fraud case against former Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has been postponed until January 28, 2024, following a brief appearance in the Protea magistrate's court on Tuesday, The Star reported.
This marks another twist in the ongoing legal saga surrounding the former community development MMC, who was recently dismissed from his position by the city’s new mayor, Dada Morero.
Last month, IOL reported that Morero booted out Gwamanda after placing him on suspension while an internal investigation was conducted.