Man P to spend Christmas behind bars

December 9, 2011 | Filed underPopular News | Posted by editor

Christmas behind bars … Monnapule Seebela’s bail was refused in Nelspruit
Businessman and socialite Monnapule Ernest Seebela, also known as Man P, who is facing fraud and theft charges, will be spending Christmas behind bars.
The charges relate to R2.7-million, which was deposited into his bank account on September 30 2011, and which he speedily withdrew.
Last week The Weekly reported that the money was earmarked for the Mbombela Municipality staff pension fund.
Seebela is believed to have swindled the municipality out of the money. He also allegedly requested letterheads from the municipality in order to get the
money released.
The money was paid into the account of Nare Trading, of which he is an active partner. Seebela said he was approached by a friend, who wanted to use his business account, and that he withdrew the money and gave it back to this “friend”.
However, Seebela allegedly went on a spending spree shortly after the withdrawal of the money. He was seen flashing cash at exclusive parties and bought a new BMW X5.
Seebela was arrested by the Hawks at the end of November.
He was denied bail when he appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court again on Tuesday after it emerged that he has other counts of fraud against him.
All 62 charges will be brought against him in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on January 14 2012.
Magistrate Eddie Hall denied bail to Seebela on the grounds that he has business links in Lesotho and that he “blatantly lied” to the court when he denied doing business in that country. The state presented two copies of faxes indicating that Seebela’s company, Nare Trading 522, delivered medical supplies amounting to R2.7-million to a businessman in Lesotho.
Seebela told the court that he earned R100 000 per month through his businesses.
Hall said Seebela appeared to have connections with various people across the country. He said that one example was Seebela’s connection to his co-accused, Kgomotso Jacob Oupa Moloisi, from Soweto.
Eight Mbombela Municipality employees were suspended last month pending a forensic investigation into the disappearance of the R2.7-million from the employees’
pension fund.
Mpumalanga police are still searching for the “insider” that deposited the money into Seebela’s account.
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