Advance in Cape Courts as Hawks Continue Crackdown
CCN Reporter – Felicity Jooste
CAPE TOWN:- Three separate commercial crime matters involving fraud, uttering, tax evasion and money laundering progressed in Cape courts on 30 September 2026, underscoring ongoing efforts by the Hawks against financial crime.
In the Parow Regional Court, Mohamed Imran (39) and Suraya Imran (37) were sentenced after being convicted on 9 July 2026 of fraud and uttering. Mohamed Imran received eight years’ imprisonment on two fraud counts, of which two years were suspended for five years.
On the uttering charge, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, ordered to run concurrently with the unsuspended portion of the fraud sentences. Suraya Imran’s five-year sentence on the fraud count was fully suspended for five years, as was her 12-month sentence on the uttering charge. Both were declared unfit to possess firearms. They were found not guilty on money-laundering and Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) charges.
The investigation began in March 2023 when the Hawks followed up on information about two vehicles that had been obtained fraudulently. A white Toyota Fortuner and a white Mercedes-Benz ML250 were found in the couple’s possession and seized.
In a separate matter, Anwar Gallie (49) appeared in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court after the Hawks’ Bellville-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team arrested him on a warrant.
He faces charges of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. It is alleged that between March 2014 and June 2015 he submitted false invoices and claimed fraudulent Value Added Tax (VAT) returns from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) totalling R14 112 769.61. SARS paid out R1 458 527.86, representing the actual loss. The matter was postponed to 1 October 2026 for legal representation.
Meanwhile, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court convicted Farouk Khan (45) on sixteen counts of fraud and one count of money laundering. Khan, a former employee and financial advisor at Alchemy Financial Services (an Old Mutual Agency Franchise), was arrested on a warrant in September 2024. He had voluntarily admitted to his employer that he misappropriated funds belonging to eighteen Old Mutual clients.
Khan provided clients with a bank account number belonging to a company he controlled. Clients deposited funds into that account, which he then used for personal gain or diverted elsewhere. He also created fictitious invoices and documents bearing Old Mutual branding. Old Mutual suffered an actual loss of R23 661 002.63. The matter was postponed to 23 November 2026 for sentencing.
All three cases form part of the Hawks’ ongoing focus on serious commercial crime in the Western Cape.
