The North Gauteng High Court has issued a preservation order for a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth R6.3 million, bought by the former chairperson of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Professor Alfred Nevhutanda.
According to the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Nevhutanda bought the car with lottery funds stolen in 2016.
The Rolls-Royce was registered in the name of Malwandla Siweya, a board member of a “hijacked” nonprofit group called Lulamisa that received R80 million in lottery funds. Lulamisa contributed R2 million towards the car’s purchase price.
‘The modus operandi used by the board members and senior employees was to use nonprofit organisations with ties to apply for grant funding for certain projects’, said the AFU and the SIU in a statement.
‘In some instances, existing NPOs were hijacked, and the original members were replaced by different members linked to NLC board members or senior staff.’
The preservation order is the first time the luxury car has been linked to Nevhutanda. The former lottery boss has already had a R27 million mansion in Wonderboom, Pretoria, frozen by authorities.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria also granted an order to preserve two more luxury cars and four properties. A BMW 7 Series sedan M760 is also linked to Nevhutanda. Bought in September 2017 for R2.8 million, it was registered in the name of Meshack Makhubela, Nevhutanda’s son-in-law.
A BMW G30 520d Series sedan was bought in July 2017 for R995 000. It was registered in the name of Fulufhelo Kharivhe, the live-in partner of Collins Tshisimba. Both have previously been implicated in lottery fraud.
The court also froze a portion of an office park in Polokwane, two properties in Louis Trichardt, and a portion of a farm in Brakspruit, Limpopo.
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