State guns for Siam accused

Durban - The man accused of the murder of Siam Lee is also facing a raft of charges for fraud ­related to his fuel business.

This was heard in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, when the 29-year-old man, who cannot be named due to an unrelated rape charge against him, appeared for his bail ­application, which is being ­opposed by the State on several grounds.

He was arrested in January after 20-year-old Lee’s body was found in a field in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. She had disappeared from a brothel, where she apparently worked, in Durban North days earlier.

State prosecutor Surekha Marimuthu said an investigating officer from Gauteng had gone to the Westville ­Correctional Facility to execute a warrant against the ­accused for cases in Joburg.

However, during cross-examination the man disputed this. He claimed the investigating officer had turned up at Westville without him or his attorney being ­informed.

Marimuthu also revealed that 10 additional fraud cases were opened against the man in relation to his Germiston-based fuel business. There were six separate cases in Gauteng and four were reported at the Inanda, KwaDukuza, Madadeni and Umbilo police stations. Marimuthu told the court that these cases were opened in January and February because the complainants had not previously been able to locate him.

However, he in turn questioned the timing of these cases, alleging that the police were prompting people to open cases against him.

According to Marimuthu, the charges relate to an online course on fuel distribution offered by his company for R5000 or R20000.

An “application to become a distributor” document was handed to magistrate Mohammed Motala, as well as to the man who confirmed he recognised it.

“I have never committed fraud in my life; these would be civil cases, I have legal contracts with all my clients and distributors. I am an honest businessman,” he said.

His advocate, Brad Osborne, objected to the ongoing legal dispute between his client and the landlord of his business premises being brought up in the bail hearing.

He asked how this would affect his client’s suitability for bail. “These kinds of things happen in business,” he said.

Marimuthu responded that being sued for millions of rand was an indication that he might flee if released on bail. The man, however, said he was not a person to run away from justice and would in fact be counter-suing.

The court also heard a summons for the man to appear before the Germiston Magistrate’s Court in June had also been issued. The summons was related to a Department of Environmental Affairs probe into his business. The man took issue with the summons dated April 9 after it was handed to him in court yesterday.

Lee’s mother, Carmen Nan Lee, was present in the public gallery yesterday. The bail application continues.