The five accused previously appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court for R2.7 million's fraud, theft, and money laundering. 

They were summoned to appear in court. The case against Maria Fatima Botes (45); George Botes (45); Ann Cathereen Smit (69); Susanna Aletta Liebenberg (42); and Chantelle Matthews (43) was postponed to 26 May 2023 and was further transferred to the Bloemfontein Regional Court. 

They are currently out but were warned to re-appear on the date as mentioned earlier.

Hawks spokesperson, Christopher Singo, said the complainant in the matter is an accounting and management consulting firm based in Bloemfontein that appoints various bookkeepers to perform the required accounting jobs. Mellins i-Style Optometrists Bloemfontein happens to be one of the prominent clients.

"It is alleged that during February 2019, the ABSA fraud department notified the complainant as they identified suspicious transactions with regard to transfers of funds from Mellins i-Style Optometrists’ business accounts. Internal investigations were conducted and it was discovered that the accused, who were bookkeepers contracted by the complainant, unlawfully transferred funds from the business account from the period November 2015 until February 2019. As a result, Mellins i-Style Optometrists Bloemfontein was prejudiced and suffered a total loss of R2 695 012," Singo added.

Following complaints by the company, the case was then referred to the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit in Bloemfontein in March 2019 for further investigations.

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