• Five senior officials from the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development appeared in the Bloemfontein Regional Court.
• They face charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering worth R245 million.
• They were each granted R10 000 bail and were expected back in court in September.

Five senior government officials in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Free State appeared in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering worth R245 million, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Lerato Mngomezulu, 39, Disebo Masiteng, 59, Mokemane Ndumo, 52, Mahlomola Mofokeng, 55, and Mbana Thabethe, 54, were granted R10 000 bail each, NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said.

"The first four were members of the Bid Evaluation Committee and Thabethe was the Head of Department," Ngwema said.

"It was discovered during the financial flow analysis exercise of the bank accounts in the Estina matter that there were irregularities and disguised payments to one of the officials."

The accused allegedly gave a number of contracts to a company called Superior Quality Trading, which also trade as Rekgonne Community Projects.

This was despite the company not attending compulsory briefing sessions.

READ | 5 Free State officials arrested on fraud charges

"The company also had a certificate of attendance even though it was not present at the compulsory briefing where these certificates were issued. The department is said to have paid more than R756m to the company."

The director of Superior Quality Trading, 55-year-old Lenah Mohapi, allegedly paid huge sums of money into the account of Seipati Dlamini, 49, who was the chief financial officer of the department at the time, Ngwema said.

"These payments were disguised as Refund Telkomsa and Medical services."

Ngwema said Dlamini and Mohapi were arrested by the Hawks in July and, together with Superior Quality Trading, appeared in court on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.

He said the two were released on bail of R10 000 and their case was postponed to 10 September for it to be moved to the High Court.

They will be joined by the five accused in September and will collectively face 58 counts of forgery, uttering, fraud, corruption, money laundering and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act, Ngwema added.

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