A law firm director and a former top municipal official have both faced fraud charges in court.
On Thursday, September 5, Thouret Mampe Thabe Tiro, 41, director of Tiro Attorneys (PTY) LTD, and Tsietsi Isaac Shema, 54, acting director of Corporate Services at the Ditsobotla Local Municipality, appeared in Lichtenburg Magistrate’s Court facing fraud allegations.
Lieutenant Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula, a spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), stated that personnel of the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, based in Mahikeng, detained the accused in Lichtenburg earlier on Thursday.
“Their arrest follows an investigation into allegations of fraud relating to the procurement of legal practitioner’s services for the municipality,” according to Mathebula.
Tiro Attorneys allegedly submitted a payment request to the municipality in May 2021 for legal services rendered.
The investigation showed that Tiro Attorneys did not deliver any services, and Shema and another defendant, who is still at large, allegedly accepted the cash request.
As a result, the municipality lost more than R460,000 for services that were never provided.
The couple was charged with four charges of fraud and an equivalent theft charge. They have been remanded in custody, and their case has been postponed until September 6, 2024 for a formal bail application.”
Major General Patrick Mbotho, the North West provincial head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, and Dr Rachel Makhari, the Director of Public Prosecutions in the North West, both praised the arrest and subsequent court appearance of the pair.
They have informed the public that the Hawks and NPA will not hesitate to prosecute public officials who commit fraud and corruption.
