Central SA
Trifecta summoned to NC court─── LUCKY NKUYANE 08:46 Thu, 23 Jul 2020
The controversial multimillion Trifecta Holdings has been summoned to appear in the Kimberley Magistrate's Court in the Northern Cape over alleged fraud.
The company made headlines in 2016 when the former ANC provincial chairperson in the province John Block and its CEO, Christo Scholtz, were both sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for corruption and money laundering in relation to these controversial leases in 2016.
Hawks provincial spokesperson, Nomthadanzo Mnisi, says it's alleged that the company paid a Senior Practitioner in the Facility Management and Auxiliary Support at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) an amount of R60 000 in a form of a gratification.
She further says the Director of Trifecta Holdings, Werner du Plessis, who represented the company during the court proceedings, appeared in the Kimberley Regional Court on Wednesday. Mnisi adds that the case against the multimillion company has been postponed to 15 October 2020 for consultation.
Mnisi says the company was issued with summonses on Wednesday. "Trifecta Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a company involved in the property business and its subsidiary companies concluded lease agreements with the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa)."
It is alleged that all these took place between the years 2009 and 2010. In 2018 the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein in the Free State dismissed both the appeal bid from Block and Scholtz after they were found guilty of corruption. These charges related to kickbacks that were made to unduly influence the awarding of leases to Trifecta for government offices. Block and his company Chisane Investments benefited from cash payments; renovations to his guest house in Upington and ordinary shares in Trifecta Resources and Exploration (Pty) Ltd.
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