Cape Town man who faked payslips to buy pricey car he 'rented out' gets jail term

A Beitbridge border check on an expensive vehicle led to a two-year prison term for a Cape Town man.

Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said 44-year-old Zayid Dawood Karrim was sentenced on charges of forgery, fraud and contravention of the National Credit Act on Monday by the Bellville specialised commercial crimes court.

“A complaint of vehicle finance fraud was received at Ottery Toyota in October 2010 through WesBank, where Karrim inflated bank statements and submitted false payslips during the application of a vehicle worth R665,635,” said Hani.

Karrim  compounded this by not paying the monthly instalments and renting out the vehicle.

“The person to whom he rented out the vehicle tried to cross Beitbridge into Zimbabwe in 2012 and that is where the fraud was discovered,” said Hani.

Karrim was arrested in 2015 and during the court appearances he later absconded.

He was traced and rearrested by the Bellville-based Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team.

He later handed himself over to the team in August 2022 for contempt of court relating to two of his previous court attendances for vehicle finance fraud in 2010 and 2013. He had been released on R5,000 bail on each case.

Karrim has been sentenced to:

• 18 months' imprisonment for forgery;
• 12 months in jail for contravention of the National Credit Act; and
• six years in prison for fraud, of which four years was suspended.

“Effectively, Karrim will serve two years' direct imprisonment,” added Hani.

He will need to reappear in court on August 28 on the 2013 matter.

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