Attorney arrested in SAPS branding case

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Ramsamy appeared at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and was granted R5,000 bail. He is facing charges of money laundering, theft, fraud and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) and acquiring of proceeds of unlawful activities.

In a statement, the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate said Ramsamy’s charges emanate from laundering R920,000 from his attorney trust account which he transferred to his business account. He disguised it as “fees”.

In August last year, the suspect allegedly told his client, Prinesh Naidoo, to transfer the R920,000 from his business account - Imbobezi Enterprises - to him for safekeeping. This, said the Directorate, was as he anticipated that the unit and the National Police Commissioner's special task team would be freezing his client’s account.

“Prinesh, trusting Ramsamy, transferred the money, which Ramsamy later squandered. The funds given to Ramsamy belonged to Kishene Chetty,” reads the statement.

It believed the flow of transactions further point to the fact that the companies involved in the R85 million branding case were fronting.

SAPS spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said the attorney handed himself over to the Task Team on Tuesday.

“These investigations began in September 2018 which saw the arrest of 71 accused to date which included very high ranking police officers, business men and women,” said Naidoo.

Almost every SAPS employees implicated in the case has since been dismissed for their alleged involvement in the cases.

Ramsamy is the 46th person to be charged in the matter. There are 72 accused in total, including the companies.

All accused will appear today at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. The group is accused of allegedly manipulating procurement processes in favour of specific companies.

“The case is expected to be postponed for further investigations,” the Directorate said.