THREE people, including two former City of Cape Town employees, appeared in court on Wednesday, 8 February, after being arrested for tender corruption.
Brett Lucas (47), Jonathan van Rooy (54), Koos Johannes Muller (52) and company JVR Construction CC appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates Court after being bust on Tuesday. It’s alleged that Van Rooy paid Lucas and Muller, attached to the Water and Sanitation division in the city, in order for them to fast-track tender process. And, this led to the city losing more than R200 million.
According to Hawks spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase, the corrupt activities happened between 2011 and 2017.
Nkwalase said Lucas and Muller were allegedly paid to fast-track the tender process in favour of Van Rooy and his company, JVR. They were arrested after the matter was reported to the Hawks by the city.
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“A warrant of arrest was issued against the trio and company, stemming from allegations of fraud and corruption. JVR was contracted by the city to perform construction on maintenance of roads in and around Cape Town. The contract was valid from November 2011 until September 2017,” said Nkwalase.
Some of the acts uncovered included backdated invoices meant to facilitate payments to JVR.
“Forensic and financial investigation revealed that some invoices were backdated to facilitate payments to JVR for services rendered. The city municipality suffered a loss surpassing R210 million,” added Nkwalase.
Van Rooy was released on R20 000 bail, while Lucas and Muller were released on R10 000 bail each. The matter was postponed to 17 March.
