Desiree Liebenberg (50), the wife of Louis Petrus Liebenberg (60) was denied bail by the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrates Court.
She and the rest of the eight accused in the matter are facing charges of 42 counts of fraud (alternatively theft), 5 counts of racketeering, 6 counts of money laundering, theft, and various statutory offences, including contraventions of the Companies Act.
Louis Petrus Liebenberg and his wife are further facing an additional charge of two counts of money laundering.
The wife Desiree Liebenberg is facing an additional charge of corruption while Kleynhans is facing an additional charge of money laundering.
More counts will be formulated and added at a later stage. It is alleged that Louis Liebenberg registered 15 companies where his ex-girlfriend Kleynhans and the rest of the accused who are either family members or have close relations, were directors.
In 2020 Louis Petrus Liebenberg and Magdelena Petronella Kleynhans registered a company styled Tariomix where they were both directors. Another company styled Forever Zircon was registered in 2021.
Both these companies were purportedly involved in buying and selling diamonds. Potential investors were lured through social media and radio interviews to invest in the buying and selling of diamonds and were also promised high returns over a short period using a cashless platform called AE Switch.
Thousands of investors made payments into the platform amounting to approximately R4.5 billion.The accused utilised the proceeds of the diamond investment scheme to purchase movable and immovable assets, including 2 mines, and various motor vehicles, with a Ford Bakkie, BMW 230i sport, Toyota Agya, Kruger rands and silver coins and pay for Liebenberg’s lavish wedding and honeymoon in Greece.
Various immovable properties, including an office block, were purchased.When some investors did not receive the promised payments, they became suspicious and reported the matter to the SAPS suspecting that they were defrauded.
The investigation is conducted by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), together with the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) and the NPA’s Organised Crime Unit.
The multi-agency approach to the prosecutor-guided investigations yielded an important breakthrough in this syndicated commercial crime. In her bail affidavit, she asked to be released on bail because she was not a flight risk, she joined the companies at a later stage and her properties are being vandalized.
However, the state Advocate Hana Conradie opposed her release on bail because she is a flight risk, she has access to R200 million that her husband claims to have hidden away from authorities.
Furthermore, the adv Conradie argued that the accused failed to take the court into its confidence by disclosing her bank statements by claiming that she cannot access them since she is in custody.
The matter has been remanded to 25 November 2024, for a formal bail application in respect of Louis Petrus Liebenberg. The matter against the rest of the accused was postponed to 04 February 2025, for further investigations.
TBY LUCKY SEANEGO
