Businessman Yakub Ahmed Suleman Bhikhu, who evaded arrest for six years, has been sentenced to 10 years for fraud, forgery, uttering, and money laundering involving R66 million stolen from Transnet.
However, the Pretoria Regional Court, which convicted Bhikhu and his company, Homix (Pty) Ltd, on 81 counts that include fraud, forgery, uttering, money laundering, and the Contravention of the Tax Administration Act, suspended half the sentence.
The accused pleaded guilty to all charges levelled against him and his company.
As a result of these crimes committed by Bhiku and his company between 2012 and 2015, Transnet lost R66 million.
Explaining how the crimes were committed, Investigating Directorate against Corruption (IDAC) Spokesperson Henry Mamothame said: “The accused opened accounts at various banks and forex entities, on behalf of Homix, where at the time he was the sole director”.
Mamothame added: “Payments stemming from Transnet were then paid into these accounts and dispersed to various other persons and entities by making use of fraudulent paperwork to execute fraudulent imports and exports.
“In the process, the SARS [the South African Revenue Service], SARB [South African Reserve Bank], and various private entities and banks were defrauded to allow the export of currency, which was proved to be illegal.”
Mamothame said the accused Bhiku was informed of the matter against him in about 2017.
“He then evaded arrest for six years until he was apprehended on the border whilst trying to enter Botswana,” said Mamothame.
“He has been in custody since his arrest and conviction.”
On Friday, 18 July 2025, the court sentenced Bhiku to 10 years in prison, of which five years were suspended for five years, effectively compelling him to serve five years in prison.
“He was further ordered to reimburse an amount of R300 000 to Transnet, which he received as gratification,” said Mamothame.
“His company was sentenced to a fine of R500 000, which was suspended on condition that it does not commit a similar offence.”
Mamothame said the National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the conviction and the direct imprisonment.
He revealed that the evidence that led to the conviction was presented in the State Capture Commission and further investigated by IDAC and its stakeholders in the law enforcement fraternity.
“This collaborative effort lays the basis for the efforts put in place to crack the complex state capture cases and other fraud and corruption cases that IDAC is responsible for,” explained Mamothame.
- This article was originally published by The Bulrushes. It is republished by TechFinancials under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. Read the original article
