From drug dealing to insurance fraud

From drug dealing to insurance fraud
Solly Maphumulo
12THE HIGH-FLYING DRUG DEALER
CONVICTED drug dealer, Sheryl Cwele, 53, the now ex-wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, continues her fight to stay out of jail.

Cwele, who was recently fired from her post as health services director at the Hibiscus Coast Municipality, is appealing against her 12-year jail sentence following her conviction for dealing in drugs.

She was arrested following revelations that she had colluded to send a young KwaZulu-Natal mother, Tessa Beetge, to South America as a drug mule. Beetge is serving an eight-year jail sentence in Brazil.

THE BROKE PROPERTY MOGUL

FORMER estate agency boss Wendy Machanik is scheduled to go to court next month (February 17) on charges of embezzling millions from trust account funds.

Machanik, the close corporation Wendy Machanik Property Holdings and its chief financial officer Bruce Bernstein face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud; failing to keep accounting records; and failing to reflect more than 100 transfers between the corporation's trust and business accounts. Machanik is out on R25000 bail and Bernstein on R5000 bail.

The pair allegedly made irregular transfers totalling R28-million from Wendy Machanik Property Holdings to a fictitious account. She allegedly used this money to keep her company afloat and for personal expenses.

THE FUGITIVE CZECH 'BILLIONAIRE'

RADOVAN Krejcir, who fled his native Czechoslovakia to avoid a string of criminal charges, goes to court in April to fight insurance fraud charges. He was implicated in insurance fraud by a Slovakian doctor, Marian Tupy, who has since been convicted.

Tupy pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding insurance company Liberty Life of more than R4.5-million and was sentenced in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court to seven years in jail, suspended for five years.

Court papers showed Krejcir approached Tupy in April 2008 to pull together a fake medical history after the Czech businessman took out life insurance. Tupy used another patient's samples to create the impression that Krejcir had cancer of the bladder.

( Times Live )