While we are not quite yet at full-blown mafia state, there are elements within the state and parts of government that are run indirectly by organised crime, writes Mandy Wiener. 31 August 2021
Vital piece of information after assassination of Gauteng Department of Health Acting Chief Financial Officer Babita Deokaran enables investigators to trace a vehicle at the scene to a former South African National Defence Force member residing in the Pretoria area. 28 August 2021
The South African attorney arrested and charged with embezzlement of more than R1.4 million in Mauritius has been hauled before the Legal Practice Council (LPC), where a disciplinary process is under way. 20 August 2021
Whether police had the intelligence before the protests erupted, they were never going to control the widespread looting and riots.This is the view of security and crime expert . 14 July 2021
Julie Alli talks to LTI, organised crime expert. 28 June 2021
The CEO of a reality TV production company has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding a lender out of $2 million, prosecutors said Tuesday. 08 June 2021
If you missed either of the Boereverneukers episodes featuring LTI, then click on the link and watch! Two very bizarre stories.Allie Alberts. 25 May 2021
We recently saw the recent developments made by investigations conducted by law firm Bowmans and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) relating to dodgy tenders at Eskom over the past 10 years resulting in a R178 billion graft. The investigations found a slush fund created by former executives where they had monies paid for various aspects of their lives. One of the cases involves a company named Tubular construction which supplied services to Eskom over contracts worth R1,2 billion and a multinational company called Babinatlou Business Solutions which also received millions. How are monies located and traced? Joining us to discuss this is Investigator at LTI Forensic Investigators. 09 May 2021
Those who did, say they were ripped off wholesale!. 15 April 2021
The wife of Pofadder hotelier Leon Brits has been arrested in connection with his murder last year, police said on Monday.According to police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock, provincial organised crime detectives and other stakeholders arrested his widow at around 08:45 in Marchand, Kakamas. 29 March 2021
Bitcoin’s price rocketed more than eleven-fold to break past the barrier of $60 000 (R896 000) from a low of $5 300 during the Covid-19 financial crisis.
The currency, however, decreased in value to $56 000 on Monday.
This follows the downfall of various schemes claiming to trade in cryptocurrencies. The most recent is the application to liquidate MTI. It is said that about 100 000 South African and international investors will lose R6 billion after the CEO of MTI, Johann Steynberg allegedly fled to Brazil in December last year, never to be seen again, since then.
Apparently Steynberg is the only one with access to the investments. MTI was provisionally liquidated after Steynberg disappeared and it will hear at the end of May whether the company will be put under final liquidation, which created scepticism under some investors.
But the latest increase caused even sceptics to look with renewed interest to the cryptocurrency.
Despite Monday’s pullback, many investors believe the outlook for Bitcoin’s price remains tilted to the upside.
However, investors should really be careful, cautions private forensic investigator, Chad Thomas.
According to Thomas the digital nature of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies makes it the ideal product for conmen and scammers.
The currency cannot be regulated through financial statements and other measures that protects investors against losing their money in other investments, Thomas told Izak du Plessis. Watch the video.
. 09 May 2021
A Soweto man has complained to the police about PTH Construction Group and its directors, accusing them of using him as a front which enabled them to benefit from BEE contracts worth at least R100-million.
Calvin Sithole, 47, was left jobless 18 months ago after the company – of which he was a director and shareholder in name only – went into voluntary liquidation. Profits which the company made and which were due to him, also vanished.
Sithole, who began as a labourer in 1990, worked his way up to the position of administration manager in 2002. He was responsible for dealing with sub-contractors on various projects for which he was paid R15000 a month.
Three years later, the married father of three was told by one of the company’s directors that they “wanted to reward my loyalty and make me their BEE partner”.
“It was a great moment. I felt like I had achieved something in my life. My wife, Basani was so happy. But I was just used.”
Sithole, who laid charges of fraud at the Norwood police station yesterday, said he received director’s fees of R5000 twice, but that was all. He was excluded from the company decisions.
Sithole’s case came to light after an investigation into 32 companies exposed suspected fraud by two of PTH’s directors, whose names are known to The Times, as well as Jan van der Merwe, its non-executive director and legal advisor.
Van der Merwe yesterday insisted that he “never participated in the day to day business of the company.”
Private investigations firm, LTI Forensic Investigations, recently uncovered suspicious activities involving the same directors in a number of other company liquidations. IRS head Chad Thomas was hired by a number of creditors owed at least R20-million.
Thomas said he found that the directors had transferred assets belonging to the company into trusts before liquidating it.
On the strength of their allegedly bogus BEE credentials, PTH were awarded two major contracts in 2006 and 2007 — a Pretoria office park and a Absa home loans call centre — worth a combined R100-million
Said Sithole: “I knew nothing about the BEE contracts they got. I was presented as a black shareholder and director but I had no control over the finances and I was excluded from decision making processes.”
But in 2008, Sithole was told that the company was closing and that he “should claim his salary from the liquidator.”
“They just used me. I was window dressing and now I am unemployed and struggling to put my kids through school.”
After PTH was liquidated, Zycon Construction was formed with the some of the same directors and much of PTH’s equipment. Last February, Zycon was also liquidated.
A 417 enquiry into the affairs of PTH and Zycon began yesterday. However, it is being managed by a law firm linked to Van der Merwe who denied any conflict of interest.
He said he was merely helping the Master of the Johannesburg High Court.
05 July 2010
Popular nightclub The Voodoo Lounge might offer more voodoo than residents of northern Johannesburg suburb Linksfield can stomach.
The club has been built on the edge of council land where Johannesburg buried victims of highly contagious diseases during the first half of the 1900s.
Residents, who already resent the noise from the club, now fear that recent digging and further development might unearth the graves of people and animals that died of ills such as black plague, smallpox, syphilis and anthrax.
According to the City of Johannesburg website, about 7000 people are buried in the historic cemetery, originally bought by the Transvaal Republican Government in 1895.
Metal markers to indicate graves have been stolen, fuelling fears that development might expose corpses and spark a health crisis.
24 November 2011
BEDFORDVIEW – Eyewitness News understands the Audi Q7 Sam Issa was shot and killed in on Saturday morning was spotted outside Czech businessman Radovan Krejcir’s gold exchange shop, Moneypoint, less than 10 hours before.
Issa, who was also known as ‘Cripple Sam’ and ‘Black Sam’, was shot dead by a gunman who pulled up next to him at a traffic light near the Bedford Centre in the early hours of the morning.
It’s believed an AK47 was used and more than 30 empty bullet cartridges were found on the scene.
It’s understood Krejcir and Issa had a fall out a few weeks before the shooting, but Krejcir has strongly denied being associated with the Lebanese national.
While Krejcir has claimed he only knew Issa from around the neighbourhood, describing him as a “strange man,” Issa’s friends have described him as a “party animal.”
24 05 November 2013
Chad Thomas from LTI forensic investigations said no environmental impact study had been conducted and changes had been made without council permission or community consultation.
The lodge is on Louis Botha Avenue and comprises of number 42, 44 and 44A. Another angry resident who didn’t want to be identified, stated that entrances to the other two properties were closed and there was one entrance and exit to Louis Botha which was creating traffic in Louis Botha Avenue.
He said with the BRT construction there was one lane available for motorists and if there was a motorist entering the lodge and one driving out of the lodge, one must stop for the one driving out which creates traffic.
03 November 2014
LTI director and fellow LTI investigator reminisce about time spent with World Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali (LTI founder supervised Ali’s security in South Africa in 1993 and LTI Cape Town investigator Fareed Hoosen was one of the bodyguards to Ali). 05 June 2016
Cape Town – A R100 million diamond robbery at a Bellville home has lifted the lid on the central role the gems have in the illicit markets of the criminal underworld.
Several well-placed sources explained to Weekend Argus how crime kingpins in the Western Cape are exchanging diamonds, luxury vehicles and drugs so that there is no paper trail for their transactions. 18 January 2015
Ever wondered what makes a con artist tick? Ever wonder to what lengths a con artist will go to achieve their nefarious act?
This 3 part series on the award winning SABC TV’s Special Assignment, produced and presented by the multiple award winning Hazel Friedman, examines multiple allegations of crimes made against a dual South African / American citizen with alleged crimes ranging from fraud, extortion, impersonation of a law enforcement officer, kidnapping and so much more.
This is the story “To Catch a Con Star” which went from Yeoville to Hollywood, involved SAPS and the FBI.
To “Catch a Con Star” was a joint SABC Special Assignment and IRS Forensic Investigations collaboration. 18 August 2018
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
ILLOVO – An alleged racist attack has left a couple traumatised.16 September 2016