PRETORIA – Four suspects, alleged to be involved in the fraudulent issuing of vehicle roadworthy certificates, will appear in the dock this morning on charges of fraud.
“The four – two men and two women aged 60, 57, 38 and 24 respectively – were arrested at the Lincoln Vehicle Testing Station by a team of corruption busters,” said the Road Traffic Management Centre (RTMC).
They were held in custody at the Johannesburg Central Police Station over the weekend.
The four suspects are employees of a private vehicle testing station. Their arrests come as a result of the joint efforts of the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit, the South African Police and the Gauteng Traffic Police’s compliance unit.
The arrests followed months of investigation in which the four were observed issuing roadworthy certificates for vehicles that they were not physically presented to the station for inspection.
According to the RTMC, more than 60 people, including traffic officers, SAPS members, and vehicle examiners have been arrested in different provinces on fraud and corruption charges since the start of the year.
The success of the corruption busters in investigating underhand and unacceptable conduct in vehicles testing station has led to the total shut-down of at least two privately owned testing stations.
“The Department of Roads and Transport has given notice of cancelation of registration to Hercules and Innovative testing centres. The owners of these centres were ordered to hand over the certificates of registrations to the department and cease further operation,” said the RTMC.
The owners were warned that should they continue operating, they shall be committing an offence in terms of the National Road Traffic Act.
The corporation urged members of the public to join the effort to fight corruption by reporting incidents on 0861 400 800.
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