'Bursary swindler' and co-accused back in court!

FIDELIS Moema (32), who made headlines after his arrest for defrauding his former employer KPMG, an audit firm in Joburg, of more than R16,5 million, is expected to appear in the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court on Friday, 19 April, for formal bail application.

It's believed Moema, dubbed "bursary swindler", diverted university funds into the accounts of friends and business associates between 2019 and 2022 before rerouting the cash back to his own bank account.

This was revealed when state prosecutor Valencia Dube read out an affidavit by investigating officer Detective Nyiko Mbiza.

Dube also argued that Moema used many people and many bank accounts to obtain R16,5 million of KMPG money, which was designated for underprivileged students in this country to further their education.

"The trail begins with ex-girlfriends who were valuable people who were assisted to open companies or business accounts, and money was laundered into their accounts under the promise that he was going to assist them to get tender work," Dube said.

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Among those implicated in the case were business tycoon Trevor Machimane (39) and Tshwane Metro cop sergeant Lebogang Sigubudu (36), who also appeared alongside Moema in court on Thursday, 18 April, for the first time.

It's said that these two businesses linked to the matter received and sent money to Moema.

Reading out Mbiza's affidavit, Dube said: "A total of 431 irregular payments with a total value of R16,5 million were unlawfully paid to different bank accounts of these people linked to [Moema] between October 2019 and November 2022."

But when Machimane's affidavit in court was read out by his lawyer Advocate Mandla Mushwana, he made it clear that he had no idea that his bank account had been used to launder money and that he was not guilty.

Machimane said in his statement that Moema had informed him that he had resigned from KPMG in 2019 and had been in the mining business and transporting coal in Mpumalanga.

This brought them closer as they shared similar business interests; it was not until 2020 that Moema reached out again and requested his company profile to attend other businesses, to which he agreed.

"Money would be paid into my account, and he would say it was for services rendered. He told me how much to send to his account. This happened for some time until my bank was frozen. When I approached the bank, I was told that there were fraudulent activities in my account. I wasn't aware of this or that [Moema] was again deployed at KPMG," Machimane said in his affidavit.