Vehicle Testing Station Fraud Exposed As Hawks Arrest Officials And Car Owners In Three Provinces

Authorities have clamped down on vehicle testing station fraud, with 11 suspects having been arrested in three provinces as part of operation Sesfikile.

The Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, together with the Road Traffic Management Corporation RTMC traced and arrested the suspects at various places in Gauteng, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal between November 4 and 9.

The suspects, police said, are a combination of vehicle owners who received fraudulent roadworthy certificates and officials who authorised and issued them.

This includes cashiers and vehicle examiners at the Mookgopong Private Testing Station in Limpopo, who allegedly authorised six roadworthy certificates without following due process in May 2019. Worst still, the suspects allegedly committed identity fraud too, using the ID documents of another person as an applicant without their knowledge.

These fraudulent activities were first detected by the RTMC, which then opened a case docket of fraud and handed it to the Polokwane-based Harks Commercial Crime unit for further investigation.