Businessman accused of R4.5m fraud and theft gets bail

A businessman accused of R4.5m have been released on R5,000 bail.

Stephanus De Wet de Lange was granted bail by the Port Elizabeth specialized commercial crimes court.

The accused businessman from Jefferey’s Bay is a co-director of Cinzaco 180 (Pty) Ltd.

The company was given the contract of the construction of low-cost homes.

According to Anelisa Ngcakani, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, De Lange is also a trustee of the SDW De Lange Family Trust.

She however explained that “it is alleged that between March 7 2014 and December 20 2017 De Lange unlawfully transferred a total of R3,277,000 from the Cinzaco bank account to his family’s trust account.”

He covered this act by posing to use the money to pay Cinzaco creditors and employees.

“It is further alleged that on December 20 2017, De Lange unlawfully and without authority transferred an amount of R870,000 from the bank account of Cinzaco to the bank account of his family trust.

“Further, it is alleged that in April 2018 he stole an amount of R423,000 from the bank account of Cinzaco by transferring it to the De Lange family trust account.”

He is currently facing charges of fraud and two counts of theft.

However, the state prosecutor advocate, Tjaart Van Zyl was not against the bail because the accused had been co-operating with Hawks ever since the investigation started.

De Lange’s next court appearance is on September 7.