Three more suspects charged in the R13 million Waterfall City case

26 February 2019

Former Waterfall Investment Company CFO, Brian Landman, his wife Mitchell Tracey Landman, and former accountant Hendrik Stroebel, yesterday handed themselves in at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

The trio appeared in court this morning where they were charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering. The suspects were granted bail of R10 000 each. 

The three are expected to appear again at the Palm Ridge court on the 10th June 2019.

In May last year, an investigation by the City’s Group Forensic and Investigation Service (GFIS) and the Operation Buya Mthetho team revealed that Waterfall Investment Company allegedly obtained water meters illegally from Johannesburg Water employee, Faisel Abrahams and used them during construction at Waterfall City. The meters used are not registered on the City’s billing system.

Abrahams and his co-accused from Waterfall Investment Company, Irvine Steyn and Yvette Scheepers, were arrested last year after they illegally obtained water meters and stole water estimated to be worth around R13 million during the development of Waterfall City. The Operation Buya Mthetho team conducted an audit of all the water meters installed at Waterfall City.

Instead of applying for a bulk water meter which can cost up to R140 000, Waterfall Investment Company allegedly colluded with Abrahams to obtain the meter and continue with the development.

I am happy with the manner in which this case is progressing. We are confident that more arrests will be made in due course.

The City loses between R5-billion and R8-billion annually due to revenue leakages and accounts being deleted off the billing system. 

It was established last year that some water metres were not reading despite the continued use of water. It was also discovered that the well-known property developers connected directly from the fire hydrants.

The City derive revenue from services such as water, sewage, refuse and property rates which were not paid at these establishments.

It was also discovered that the development is not registered, meaning the services that are used by tenants and the developers are also illegal.

Further investigations while on site revealed that most water connections in this property development, access water without metering, resulting in loss of revenue to the City because water usage cannot be measured without a meter.

The City, working with all state enforcement agencies, will not leave any stone unturned when dealing with criminal activities within our area of jurisdiction. 

I hope that the residents of Johannesburg will continue to support our Operation Buya Mthetho initiative and report crime and criminals to our authorities.

Issued by Lucky Sindane, Director: Strategic Stakeholder Management - Group Forensic and Investigation Service, 26 February 2019