Captain Richard Lekotswane Nkwanyana (48), and Captain Peter Mathekanyana Molapo (58), both formerly attached to the Hawks’ in Mpumalanga have been convicted and sentenced to five and six years direct imprisonment respectively by the Middleburg Regional Court on Friday, November 02 for fraud and forgery.
The pair were convicted for fraud, forgery, and uttering after the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigating unit’s probe exposed the falsified subsistence and travel claims which they submitted to the finance office in 2006.
The two accused had claimed that they booked into a guest house for two nights yet Hawks’ investigations revealed that they only stayed for a single night. They subsequently submitted a claim of approximately R850-00 each with altered dates on invoices.
During the trial, state Advocate Patrick Nkuna led the testimonies of the guest house owner and evidence received from the finance personal who revealed that there were discrepancies on the invoices received from the pair – the letterhead and a special managers discount were falsified on the invoices. A handwriting expert also testified and confirmed that the invoices were indeed forged.
Meanwhile Nkwanyana still has separate pending cases related to three (3), counts of theft and three (3), counts of defeating the ends of justice and he is due to appear before the Nelspruit Regional Court today. Nkwanyana was dismissed from the service during November 2017 following an internal disciplinary procedure whilst Molapo resigned this year before a disciplinary procedure could commence.
The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya has welcomed the sentence.
“Law enforcement officers must be honest in executing their duties. Those who choose to be dishonest will regret, for crime does not pay. I would also like to commend the investigators from the DPCI who investigated the matter without fear or favour”. General Lebeya concluded.
