Jason Foster is co-director of the same company as Richard Marsden.
British citizen Richard Marsden, the alleged kingpin in the theft of at least R31.5 million through the so-called R99 debit order scam, failed in his attempt to leave South Africa, supposedly to care for his sick sister when he applied to have his. bail conditions eased dismissed.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) told Johannesburg’s special commercial crime court, sitting in Palm Ridge, that the investigation into the complex bank crime has been completed and the trial of Marsden, along with the three defendants, is expected to begin in September.
The scheme will run for about 13 months from January 2018 to February 2019, according to the NPA.
Other defendants are Jason Foster, a co-director with Marsden of a company the state claims was at the center of the fraud, as well as Ravendra Singh and her son Andrew, both of whom are accused of receiving the proceeds of the fraud at their private banks. account and in the company account.
When the men were arrested in May, the police called the case a “R99 fraud” because R99 is the debit order amount commonly used to defraud unsuspecting bank clients, although the transaction amount varies.
The four accused, described by investigators as a syndicate, face a combined 61 charges of theft and breaching the Organized Crime Prevention Act. He said he will plead not guilty when he goes to trial in September.
Bank clients hit
Prosecutors said various companies, as well as Marsden and Foster’s personal bank accounts, were used to stash money from the alleged fraud.
According to the charge sheet, Marsden and Foster were directors of Talent Base, a company registered as a “third party payment provider” sponsored by Absa to “collect debit orders on behalf of other companies”.
A debit order “is a facility where a third party (user or beneficiary) can collect money from the customer’s bank account without having to do anything other than giving the bank a written, telephone or electronic mandate to do so”, according to the charge. sheet.
The state alleges that Talent Base stole money from clients Rand Merchant Bank and First National Bank, a subsidiary of FirstRand Limited, with Marsden as the mastermind.
“The accused [Marsden] and others acting with him do not have the authority of the account holder to print the account in various amounts,” read the bill sheet.
“The amount of money taken from the client from [FirstRand Limited] by [Talent Base] as a result of illegal activity because the deduction was made without the mandate of the account holder from whom the amount was taken.
The state said the illegal deductions were first discovered in September 2018, when FNB clients began receiving debit orders with references to “Talarabian” and “Talcliffha”, linked to Talent Base.
“Talcliffha”, according to people close to the investigation, is a combination of the names Talent Base and Cliffhanger Trading, the latter being a company controlled by Singh, who is on the list of accused in the charge sheet. Cliffhanger is represented in court by Andrew Singh, who will bear all the consequences if the company is found guilty.
Talent Base also collects debit orders from FNB clients using the “Mzansi” reference.
“Notification to bank clients that a debit order has been processed on their account usually includes that reference,” the charge sheet reads.
During the 13-month period of the alleged theft, Marsden received more than R2.8 million in his personal account from Absa’s Talent Base account, according to investigators’ records before court.
Foster, according to the investigation, received R281 242.74 in the account, as well as direct payments from the Talent Base account, with Ravendra Singh allegedly netting R1.5 million in the account.
The state claims other sums were placed from unsuspecting account holders, through the Absa Talent Base account, into company accounts controlled by Foster and Singh. For example, court papers show how – from August 2018 to January 2019, in just 16 transactions – a company called Fostech, of which Foster is a director, received more than R13.2 million.
In August, September, October and December 2018, in four transactions, Millennial Thinkers, another company controlled by Foster, as well as an account allegedly owned by Ravendra Singh, received more than R14.3 million from the Absa Talent Base account, according to court filings.
The document added that Andrew Singh, through Cliffhanger Trading, received R956 684 in October 2018.
“[All accused] unlawfully possess or have an amount knowing, or should reasonably know, that the amount of money or is part of the proceeds of the illegal activity of another person or other persons,” said the state.
On March 1, judge Emmanuel Magampa rejected Marsden’s application to reduce his strict bail conditions until November 2021, so he can visit his sick sister in Spain. He is under house arrest in KwaZulu-Natal.
Marsden was arrested in October 2021 and initially refused bail, but was released on strict conditions, including having to report to the police station three times a week to register. Marsden said he also wants to visit his three children in England, one of whom he says is having trouble paying tuition at a British college.
But Marsden did not provide a physical address for where he would stay while in Spain and England, nor did he submit an affidavit from his sister as to why he was the best person to take care of her and not the other two brothers.
The state, in opposing the application to amend the bail conditions, said this was tantamount to Marsden wanting to “get away” from South Africa to avoid justice. The judge agreed.
Marsden also did not say when he would return, saying only that he will be in South Africa when the trial begins in September.
“You have used the same reasoning that was used during your bail [initially] did not return [in October 2021]. Therefore, your application to change your bail conditions is rejected,” said Magampa.
In R31.5 million through the alleged power has been allegedly dropped in the sea compared to the amount in the study more by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks).
In a statement in May, the Hawks said the accused “extorted approximately R248 million from unsuspecting bank clients and transferred it. [the money] to different bank accounts allegedly linked to the syndicate”.
“We sincerely sympathize with all bank clients who are victims of the alleged fraudsters,” said Major General Ebrahim Kadwa, head of the Hawks in Gauteng.