The battle for the soul of private radio station North West FM took a new twist last week after a case of fraud was opened by the station's new owners.

This after documents submitted to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) to add new directors to the station's board were allegedly tampered with and other names of "unknown" directors added.

New owners of the station, Motswako Media, confirmed that they opened the case after they became aware that the documents that they submitted to the CIPC were "hijacked" and new directors unknown to them were registered.

Managing director and veteran broadcaster Lawrence Tlhabane said upon realising the fraudulent activity, some directors went to the CIPC to find answers.

"We realised that there might be unlawful activities taking place, with names and signatures forged and directors' IDs fiddled with. After speaking to two CIPC officials, they still did not get the answers they were looking for. One of our service providers took it upon himself to report the matter to the police as he is the one who was sent to deliver the documents."

Police spokesperson Coba Brits confirmed that a case has been opened and that investigations were continuing.

The station, the only commercial radio station in North West, has been rocked by ownership battles since 2016 when one of its shareholders decided to disinvest in it.

As the ownership battle raged over the years, it affected the station's financial wellbeing as advertising declined. The station was later taken off air for more than a month after failing to pay its mandatory fees to signal distributor Sentech.

Presenters and producers took their frustrations on air in July when they hijacked a current affairs show to talk about the non-payment of their salaries.