Cape Town – A convicted former Portuguese banker Joao Manuel de Oliveira Rendeiro was arrested in Umhlanga Rocks, Durban on Saturday after fleeing from Portugal, SA Police Service spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said on Saturday, according to reports.
Rendeiro fled his conviction and prison sentence for fraud charges involving €41m (about R740m).
A News24 report said that the matter was brought to the attention of the 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 at 7am this morning.
“The fugitive will appear for the first time in the Durban magistrate’s court on Monday as part of his extradition process, ” Times Lives quoted Naidoo as saying.
The report said that Rendeiro fled the UK on September 14 and arrived in SA on September 18.
Since then, he has been staying in the most opulent hotels in the country.
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Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
