A 46-year-old Department of Home Affairs official is expected to appear in the Lindley Magistrates’ Court on Monday for alleged corruption. He was arrested on Friday by the Bethlehem-based Serious Corruption Investigation detectives.
The suspect is alleged to have facilitated fraudulent identity documents for foreign nationals at a fee of R10 000. In April 2024, Bangladeshi Saddam Hussein (22) was arrested for aiding and abetting another foreign national to obtain a South African identity document. Hussein, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Kroonstad Magistrates’ Court on 24 June 2024 for a separate fraud case relating to identity documents, will be back in the Lindley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
It is expected that he will appear alongside the Home Affairs official on what will be the latter’s second appearance. Free State Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, has applauded the detectives for their relentless efforts to root out corruption involving fraudulent identity documents.
“We are coming after all officials involved in this scheme. Having undocumented immigrants has negative economic and security implications for the country and is thus a serious crime,” Bokaba said.
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