Two held in fraud raid
A co-ordinated operation saw the Hawks raid three properties linked to a Cape Town businessman facing fraud charges involving millions of rands.
|||Cape Town - A co-ordinated operation saw the Hawks raid three properties linked to a Cape Town businessman facing fraud charges involving millions of rands.
Dennis Klassen, a former director of Red Ant Security Services, which has been involved in several evictions in Joburg, and his daughter Rochelle Klassen-Adonis, are the subjects of fraud charges. They are accused of having defrauded the company of about R8 million and face 102 fraud and theft charges. They are expected to stand trial later this year.
A husband and wife were arrested early on Saturday at a Bellville house - which according to the city’s valuation roll is owned by Klassen-Adonis - and they are expected in court on Monday to face fraud charges.
Lloyd Ramovha, the provincial Hawks spokesman, said the arrests were “a culmination of investigations into recent fraudulent insurance claims amounting to thousands of rands allegedly perpetrated around Cape Town”.
Klassen, speaking from the Vredenburg farm, told Weekend Argus on Saturday the Hawks and police had spent about four hours scouring the farm.
“They took a few papers, employment letters... This is the third time they’ve raided here.”
Klassen acknowledged he was the focus of at least two court cases in Joburg.
He said the cost of travelling between provinces for court proceedings was exorbitant and he implied he was wrongly accused. “(The police) have taken my legal firearms (in a previous raid). The raids today were like a follow-up.”
Hawks and police swooped on the three premises on Saturday as part of a wider, ongoing investigation.
In addition to the two arrests in Bellville, another property in Vredenburg where one of Klassen’s employees lived, was searched.
In December, police issued a statement about the court action Klassen and his daughter faced in Joburg.
It said they had been the subject of a lengthy investigation by a specialised team of detectives and “they are facing 102 charges of fraud and theft involving about R8 million… (They) are accused of acting together in defrauding the (Red Ants) company assets and shares”.
In another case, Klassen faces charges of having unlicensed firearms after he allegedly used Red Ants company money to buy firearms in Joburg, which were couriered to Cape Town. Klassen, who appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court for this, was released on R10 000 bail.
caryn.dolley@inl.co.za
Weekend Argus