69 cop cars in petrol scam

2007-03-15 22:00

Grahamstown - Police have launched an internal probe after it emerged that most of the vehicles involved in a Grahamstown petrol swindle belonged to the police, Grocott's Mail reported on Thursday.

Police spokesperson J V Naidoo said: "If police are found to be involved, they will face criminal charges. At this stage, there is no evidence of police involvement."

Grocott's published a list of 90 registration numbers of vehicles caught in a swindle at a BP station in the city. Of these, 69 were police vehicles, one of which was scammed eight times.

Overcharged by cashier

Motorists were overcharged by a cashier manipulating a Speedpoint machine, switching invoices and deliberately distracting them so that they had no view of the petrol pumps.

Petrol attendants gave hand signals to the cashier to indicate that the customer was unaware of how much petrol had been put in their cars.

The petrol station manager became suspicious when the cashier bought expensive computers.

The cashier, Sabatha Mafani, was convicted in Grahamstown regional court two weeks ago after pleading guilty to 90 counts of fraud amounting to R8 811. The swindle ran between June and October last year.

- SAPA