FREE STATE – Carel Pieter van Graan (55) was released by the Betlehem Magistrates’ Court on a R8000 bail after his court appearance on 19 May 2021 for alleged charges of fraud and theft. His case was adjourned to 26 July 2021.
Van Graan was arrested by the Hawks’ Betlehem based team of Serious Commercial Crime Investigation after the warrant for his arrest was issued by court. It is alleged that between December 2017 and November 2019, the accused who was a vehicle car dealer at the time, applied for double financing from the banks and pocketed the money. The banks suffered a loss of R1.4 million due to these fraudulent activities.
He was charged in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) for 10 counts of fraud and 10 counts of theft.
