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Former Tongaat Hulett executives head to high court in R3.5bn fraud case

Peter Staude, Murray Munro, Michael Deighton, Rory Wilkinson, Kamlasagrie Singh, Samantha Shula and Gavin Kruger appeared in the specialised commercial crime court on Monday. File Photo
Peter Staude, Murray Munro, Michael Deighton, Rory Wilkinson, Kamlasagrie Singh, Samantha Shula and Gavin Kruger appeared in the specialised commercial crime court on Monday. File Photo
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

The R3.5bn fraud case against six former executives of sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Ltd (THL) and a former auditor for Deloitte and Touche is expected to proceed to the Durban high court in September.

Peter Staude, 68, Murray Munro, 55, Michael Deighton, 57, Rory Wilkinson, 50, Kamlasagrie Singh, 56, Samantha Shula, 50, and Gavin Kruger, 56, appeared in the Durban specialised commercial crimes court on Monday, where they collectively face 26 counts of fraud and racketeering.

The charges relate to alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds of Tongaat Hulett Developments (THD), a subsidiary property company of the Tongaat Hulett Group that facilitated investment in KZN from land conversion activities across a variety of sectors between 2015 and 2018.

Between March 2015 and September 2018, all seven accused allegedly acted in common purpose and backdated land sale agreements for THD.

This followed a damning 2019 PwC forensic investigation, initiated by current CEO John Hudson, which fingered the accused as being involved in inflating the group’s profits.

The state alleges each of the accused committed two or more acts of racketeering during this period and benefited financially from these activities.

Former employees Staude (THL CEO), Munro (THL CFO), Deighton (THD director), Wilkinson (THD director), Singh (THD legal executive), Shula (THD finance executive) and Kruger (auditor at Deloitte and Touche) have been charged with contravention of the Financial Markets Act, Companies Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

According to the indictment the accused actively associated themselves with the common purpose and worked together to misrepresent the true state of the revenue brought about by sales of land by THD, and to falsify the financial records of THD and/or THL.

It is further alleged that all of the accused actively associated themselves with the common purpose and worked together to ensure their fraudulent conduct could continue to ensure the achievement of the common goal of misrepresenting the true financial position of THL.”

The indictment accuses the six former THL employees of 19 of the racketeering events, while Kruger stands accused of seven.

All seven accused remain out on R30,000 bail and will make their first high court appearance on September 15.

TimesLIVE


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