BY ERIC MATOME KGOMO
MIDDLEBURG/WITBANK: The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team Police in Mpumalanga in sought of a fugitive believed to be mastermind in a series of fraudulent activities involving property in the Mpumalanga Highveld.
According to the Hawks, Annica Van Staden (46), is alleged to have robbed the community hundreds of thousands of rands between 2014 and 2015, pretending to be an estate agent.
“It is alleged that between October 2014 and July 2015, the suspect had a registered business called Housing First Property in Mpumalanga. Her modus operandi was to sell Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses, repossessed houses as well as private property in the vicinity of Middelburg, Witbank, Secunda and Kriel. It was established that the houses she sold were not for sale,” explained Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, Mpumalanga Provincial Hawks Spokesperson.
Sekgotodi said it was further alleged that the buyer had to pay the deposit on a house or the selling price into Staden’s business, Housing First Property trust account.
“She defrauded the buyers by not transferring the properties to their names and had to pay for home loans of the properties they never acquired,” She said.
Sekgotodi indicated that Van Staden allegedly transferred money to other agents she employed, although none of them including herself were registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board.
“Cases of fraud were registered in Middelburg, the suspect is no longer residing in Middelburg and her whereabouts are unknown. She was arrested in Protea Glen, Soweto in August 2019 for fraud and the case was postponed to 11 November 2020 after she was released on bail. She never returned to court and the warrant for her arrest was issued by court. There is another outstanding case of fraud against her in Orange Farm, Nelspruit,” detailed Sekgotodi.
She appealed to anyone who knows her whereabouts is to contact the Hawks’ investigating team, Lieutenant Colonel Hanlie Coetser on 082 303 9881 or Constable Masangane on 068 466 9873 and Sergeant Mosete on 072 329 9315. “All the information will be treated with strict confidentiality,” Sekgotodi said.
