Lawyer charged with theft and fraud
A lawyer faces charges of fraud and theft after allegedly defrauding the City of Joburg out of about R13m.
|||Johannesburg - A Joburg lawyer faces charges of fraud and theft over allegations that he defrauded the City of Joburg of about R13million.
Allegations are that the city approached ‘Bibi’ Rikhotso to open and administer an account containing money received from taxi owners whose vehicles had been scrapped as part of the taxi recapitalisation programme. The programme was to make way for the bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
Taxi owners would then pay the money into that account and become shareholders in Piotrans, which is a subsidiary of the City of Joburg and manages the operation of all Rea Vaya buses.
The City nominated Rikhotso’s law firm, Bibi Rikhotso Incorporated, to open and administer a trust account. But he allegedly opened a money market account instead of a trust account and was the sole signatory to it.
Early this year, the council realised that something was amiss and started investigating. Rikhotso was arrested on Monday.
The 40-year-old appeared in the Johannesburg Commercial Crime Court Wednesday on a bail application. In an affidavit that Rikhotso prepared and which was read out by his lawyer, Corrie Niewenhuizen,the father-of-three said he was now unemployed because he had been disbarred.
He also stated that he had three houses but his main residence was in Aspen Hills, south of Joburg.
His three children went to private schools. Since his disbarment, his wife was the breadwinner, and she was trying to get her law firm off the ground. Their finances were now so strained that they had put one of their houses on the market.
Rikhotso said he would be able to afford R50 000 for bail, but prosecutor Emma Tlou asked for a higher amount. “The State is not opposing bail and requests R100 0000.”
Niewenhuizen said they would not be able to afford that amount. “To raise that amount in such short time is difficult, if not impossible.”
He said his client’s friends and family begged and borrowed, and managed to raise not less than R10 000, which they believe was a reasonable amount for bail.
Niewenhuizen also told the magistrate that as Rikhotso had been struck off the roll, he could no longer afford most of his expenses.
Tlou, however, was not having any of that. “I am still sticking to my request of R100 000. In the affidavit they stated that they would be able to afford R50 000 and now they say they can only afford R10 000.
“This means there is no transparency in this court,” she said.
Magistrate Jeremy Janse van Vuuren asked whether it would not be possible for Rikhotso to sell one of the couple’s three vehicles to cover the bail amount. Niewenhuizen said the family were in the process of selling their 2014 model Mercedes-Benz.
The magistrate fixed bail at R50 000 and told Rikhotso to see what he can sell to raise the money before postponing the case to February 3.
“Sell one of your vehicles to raise the R50 000 bail”
botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za
The Star
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