Three people, as well as two entities, will appear in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate's Court on charges of theft, fraud, corruption, money laundering and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
According to Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale, the arrests were made on Wednesday following a lengthy investigation, initiated by the Special Investigating Unit. It was transferred to the Hawks' Serious Corruption Investigation Unit in April 2016.
"It is alleged that a former employee of the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, a director: water services; a de facto owner of a company; and a chairperson of the Bid Evaluation Committee, and their entities, were contracted to build VIP toilets in Kumani village."
The contract was then allegedly subcontracted to others to render the services to the tune of more than R35 million.