An aunt and cousin, aged 60 and 26
years respectively, were expected to appear in the Mthatha Specialised
Commercial Crimes Court on charges of fraud, uttering and forgery today, April
26.
The pair was arrested by the
Mthatha based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team of the Hawks on
Monday, April 25.
It is alleged that the arrested
suspects submitted fraudulent death claims, which involved the life of a
deceased nephew. It is reported that the aunt insured the deceased with a life
cover of R200 000, while on the other hand the cousin to the deceased is
reported to have insured the deceased with a cover of R400 000.
It is further reported that
according to the insurance consultant both insurers were advised to take the
health questionnaire to the insured for signing after having been informed
about the policy. After signing, the signed forms were returned to the
consultant for capturing. This is alleged to have occurred during the period
between March 7, 2019 and April 11, 2019.
The insured reportedly died on
July 7, 2019, whereafter the insurers submitted their death claims with Old
Mutual in Mthatha. The claims were referred to internal Group Forensic Services
for recommendation where it transpired that they were fraudulent, following the
assessment done by examiner who concluded that the signatures attributed to the
deceased were fraudulent.
The matter was reported to
Madeira Police and later transferred to the Mthatha based Serious Commercial
Crime Investigation team of the Hawks for further probing which culminated in
the arrest of the duo.
The investigations revealed that
Old Mutual was prejudiced cash to the value of R600 000.
