The Hawks have made a second arrest related to a fraud and corruption investigation at Cell C, the elite police crime-fighting unit said on Wednesday.
A police team in Germiston arrested Adriraan Pillay, 39, for alleged fraud and corruption involving a tender scam amounting to R130-million, the Hawks said. That is double the R64-million figure previously communicated by the Hawks.
Pillay’s arrest follows the apprehension last month of Mohamed Ismail Adamjee, 44, who has already appared in the Palm Ridge commercial crimes court on charges of fraud and corruption. Mohamed was released from custody on bail of R50 000.
“It is alleged that Pillay and his co-accused, Mohamed, were both IT executives at one of the well-known South African mobile network service providers,” the Hawks said in a statement, without naming Cell C.
“They allegedly colluded with a director of a contracted entity responsible for IT and networks, and falsely inflated invoices which resulted in an actual loss of over R130-million from 2012 to 2019.”
Pillay was arrested last Friday after a warrant of arrest was issued. He was subsequently charged with fraud and corruption, the Hawks said. He appeared in court on Monday, where he was also granted R50 000 bail. The case has been postponed to 14 April, when the co-accused are expected to appear in court.
“The investigation is continuing on this matter and more arrests are expected,” the Hawks said. — (c) 2021 NewsCentral Media
