Cape Town – A convicted former Portuguese banker Joao Manuel de Oliveira Rendeiro who was arrested in Umhlanga Rocks, Durban last year after fleeing Portugal, has reportedly died in custody before he could be extradited.
According to EWN, Rendeiro was due to appear in court on Friday for an extradition hearing.
“Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo on Friday morning confirmed that Rendeiro had died in custody.
“He said that an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of and circumstances leading to his death,” the report said.
A Reuters report also said that Rendeiro’s lawyer, June Marks, had confirmed his death and told Publico newspaper he was found hanged in his cell.
Rendeiro, the ex-president of the small private investment bank Banco Privado Português (BPP), shared a cell with others at Westville prison and was fighting in court against extradition to Portugal, the report said.
Rendeiro allegedly fled his conviction and prison sentence in Portugal for fraud charges involving €41m (about R740m).
ALSO READ | Fugitive Portuguese banker arrested while hiding out in Umhlanga Rocks in Durban
News24 reported at the time that the matter was brought to the attention of the then national police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, during a bilateral meeting at the 89th Interpol General Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey, by the chief of the Portuguese judicial police, Luis Neves.
After learning that Rendeiro might be in the country, Sitole vowed to track and trace him.
“Members from the Interpol national crime bureau in Pretoria, acting on an Interpol red notice, traced the fugitive to a location in Umhlanga Rocks where he was arrested…,” Times Lives quoted SA Police Service spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo as saying at the time.
The report said that Rendeiro fled the UK on September 14 and arrived in SA on September 18.
Since then, he had been staying in the most opulent hotels in the country.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
