Grant Veitch with Emile Witbooi.
A case of alleged fraud has rocked PSL club Cape Town City, with the accused employee currently out on bail.
The Siya crew has been informed that the head of development and recruitment at City, Grant Veitch, was arrested on Wednesday and released on bail on Friday after the Citizens opened a case of fraud against him.
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Veitch resigned from City to then take up a position at Roc Nation, but was surprised to get arrested by police at the office.
From the charge sheet seen by the Siya crew, City chairman John Comitis is the complainant, claiming Veitch committed fraud amounting to R32 000. At this stage it’s unclear what fraud was committed.
Veitch’s lawyer, Bruce Hendricks, spoke to the Siya crew on the matter.
“Grant (Veitch) resigned from City and took up a position at Roc Nation, but upon resignation he was offered double his salary (by City) and he told the club that he wants to think about it. He came back and declined the offer,” Hendricks said to the Siya crew.
“The next day he came to wrap up things and then the police were there waiting for him and they charged him with fraud and he was kept in custody for two days. We brought the bail application for him on Friday and he was out on bail for R5000. John Comitis is the complainant and the charges are fraud. We are not aware how this is fraud. The charge sheet states the amount (R32 000) and that the fraud was committed. However, my issue is that initially John Comitis indicated that the amount is over R100 000 and then suddenly when we came to court the actual value that he claims is R32 000. Already there the red flags went up for us. As soon as he resigned, all of a sudden there is fraud. Grant has never taken money from the club. He earns a decent salary to be taking R32 000. If they said R3 million or something like that, it would have made sense.
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“If you think about the charge of fraud, there must be some sort of prejudice to the club. We fail to see any prejudice. If they say he committed fraud against the club, it had to be for the benefit of the club. But what fraud? We don’t know at this stage. We are still waiting for them to complete the investigation. The matter was postponed, so they still need to get their ducks in a row. Grant wants to take up his new position (at Roc Nation) and work in communities.”
Hendricks commented on the possibility of the charge being around Emile Witbooi’s move to join Roc Nation.
“There’s big controversy around that issue. There is a lot of money involved when it comes to him. When I talk about money, I am talking about millions in pounds, not rands. At this stage, we don’t want to speculate and say it’s about this or it’s about that,” Hendricks said.
Soccer Laduma contacted Comitis on Friday afternoon but had not received a response on the situation before publishing this report.
The next court appearance is June 3.
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