Cape Town – Internationally acclaimed actress Moitheri Pheto, known to many as Terry Pheto, has taken to social media to respond to allegations of fraud relating to funding by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).
Reports indicated that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had on Friday obtained a preservation order from the High Court of South Africa to freeze assets estimated at R25 million amid a probe into financial mismanagement and corruption at the NLC.
The Special Investigating Unit said Pheto, was among those implicated and who had been “prohibited from selling, disposing of, leasing, transferring, donating, or dealing in any manner whatsoever with respect to the immovable and movable properties”.
The SIU said nine luxury properties in Pretoria, Centurion, Hartbeespoort and Johannesburg, a BMW 420i and two ocean basket franchises in the East Rand with a combined value of approximately R25 million had been seized., The Citizen reported.
In response to the allegations, however, Pheto wrote:
“I am dismayed to discover I am the subject of a SIU probe into allegations of fraud relating to funding by the National Lotteries Commission.
— Terry Pheto (@TerryPheto) November 5, 2022
“I deny any involvement in the alleged scheme that has been reported on.
“I also had no prior knowledge of an application to obtain a preservation order against me, and have had no sight of this order. I hold the law in high regard and will co-operate fully with this investigation in an open and transparent manner.
“This is a difficult time for me. I would like to thank everyone for their unwavering messages of support.”
Pheto, who was a lead actress in an Oscar-winning feature film, Tsotsi, and eight other people, including two lawyers, an accountant, a hotel group CEO and a former commissioner of the NLC were being investigated by the SIU, said reported City Press.
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Picture: Twitter/@TerryPheto
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
