Fraud case against top
Eastern
Cape police officer delayed
By Malibongwe Dayimani | Jan 30,
2017
The
fraud‚ corruption and forgery case against Eastern Cape Police communication
boss Brigadier Marinda Mills has been rolled over for a day.
Mills‚ head of the Eastern Cape
Communications Division‚ appeared on Monday at the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court
after she was arrested and released on a warning in December 2015.
The charges against Mills
relate to her allegedly signing off on a fraudulent travel claim submitted by a
senior official in her office. In August an internal SAPS disciplinary
committee found Mills guilty of negligently signing a travel claim without
first verifying its legitimacy and contravention of Public Finance Management Act
regulations.
Mills was retained in her
R60‚000-a-month post despite being found guilty.
National Prosecuting Authority
spokesman Tshepo Ndwalaza said the case was postponed to Tuesday because there
was no magistrate to preside over the case. Ndwalaza said another reason for
the matter to be held on Tuesday is that one of the three accused Keith Essau’s
attorney was not prepared for the case.
“The second issue was that
accused number three instructed the Legal Aid Board to represent him last week
as a result the Legal Aid Attorney‚ Mr Nabela was not ready to proceed. We can
also confirm that only the state; accused 1 [Nicole Brown] and 2 [Mills] were
ready to proceed with the trial.”
A date for the start of the trial
would be set on Tuesday by new magistrate James Fritz. Ndwalaza said all the
parties involved including state witnesses have been duly warned about the
changes and Tuesday’s court appearance.
Brown‚ a lieutenant-colonel at
the Zwelitsha SAPS’s music Band Unit‚ is accused of submitting a travel claim
of R3‚553.70 for a trip to Pretoria that never took place. Her direct
supervisor‚ Mills allegedly approved the claim knowing that it was fraudulent.
Brown had submitted two fake
invoices from Morningside City Lodge. Both invoices are dated five months after
the fake trip is supposed to have taken place.
