Former government officials, including ex-SASSA boss Edward Makiwane, appeared in court today on charges including fraud. This comes after the accused was charged with stealing R700 million from the state.

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Edward Makiwane, former provincial sports head Henry Esau, former agriculture head Wonders Mothibi and the Trifecta company all appearing in court on Wednesday.

The group is collectively facing charges of fraud and contravening the Public Financial Management Act.

The Sowetan reports that R700 million was allegedly stolen from the state, with Colonel Katlego Mogale commenting:

“It is alleged that in March 2006, the Trifecta group of companies secured contracts through influential government officials. The company inflated rates and charged exceptionally high rates on premises that they leased to government departments."

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Briefly.co.za gathered that bribes were paid to avoid proper invoicing and to avoid dealing with faults in the respective buildings.

The accused had been served with a summons in November, with the case postponed until February.

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