A clerk at the department of home affairs in Cleary Park has been convicted of fraud after he replaced the photographs of foreigners who had applied for SA passports with those of SA citizens.
Tony Stout, 31, now faces sentencing after his guilty plea was accepted in the Gqeberha magistrate’s court on Tuesday.
He was found guilty of fraud and contravention of the Identification Act.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said Stout’s misdeeds had been discovered during a national operation after a complaint was lodged by a KwaZulu-Natal resident.
She said the matter had then been transferred to the Gqeberha serious commercial crime investigation unit of the Hawks, where it was confirmed that Stout had orchestrated numerous fraudulent identity documentation transactions to benefit his pocket.
He was arrested on March 26 2021 and after appearing in court was released on warning.
After a series of court appearances, he ultimately pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
The case was postponed to May 31 for sentencing.
HeraldLIVE