6 due in court for life insurance scam
2013-01-07 13:05
-
Durban in a Word
Thirty writers, thirsty views of Durban. Each piece evokes memories of the city that has shaped...
Was R126.00
Now R121.00
buy now
Durban - Six people will appear in the Durban Commercial
Crimes court on Monday for alleged insurance fraud, KwaZulu-Natal police said.
Colonel Vincent Mdunge said the six were arrested on
Thursday and Friday. They were allegedly part of a scheme to defraud insurance
companies after insuring a dead man and claiming the life insurance.
"It is alleged that a 50-year-old suspect had taken out
a life cover with insurance companies for his uncle, who was already deceased,
to the value of R1.5m," Mdunge said.
"He paid the monthly premiums as usual and waited
patiently to claim."
Needed body
Mdunge said the man wanted to claim the insurance in October
last year but needed a body to represent his dead uncle.
He then approached a woman at a funeral parlour in Durban
and allegedly promised her R15 000 if she could find him a dead body and forge
a death certificate.
She approached Zivelele Funeral Services to help her find
the body. The body had to be presented to a doctor for certification and then
buried later.
However, Zivelele Funeral Services did not have a body
resembling the deceased uncle so they asked the Twin Sister Funeral Services in
Pinetown to help them.
"They had a body fitting the description but it could
not be buried because it belonged to another family, Mdunge said.
"Twin Sister Funeral Services loaned Zivelele Funeral
Services a male body which the claimant presented to the doctor for death
certification, after which he was able to obtain a death certificate."
The body was taken back to Twin Sister Funeral Services who
were promised R20 000 for their part in the scam.
Female body buried
However Zivelele Funeral Services still needed a body to
bury and Twin Sister Funeral Services helped them again by buying a female body
from a mortuary employee at the RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth for R3 000.
The body was buried at Shellcross cemetery.
"The death certificate states that a deceased is a male
but Zivelele Funeral Services buried a female body dressed in male
pyjamas," Mdunge said.
After an investigation, the man, the owner of Zivelele
Funeral Services, the owners of Twin Sister Funeral Services, the woman who
helped the man, and the mortuary employee were arrested.
- SAPA
