How metro cop and attorney wife ‘stole’ widow’s money to buy Mercedes-Benz

A Hawks officer has testified how a metro police officer and his attorney wife transferred R1.65m to a Mercedes-Benz dealership in one go while a widow whose money it was sat waiting for the funds to be transferred to her account.

Col Putiki Daniel Makuwa said the money came from an estate that belonged to the late husband of a Mrs Masha.

Makuwa was testifying at the Polokwane magistrate’s court on Tuesday during the bail application of Charlotte Tibana, 33, and her husband, Peter “Lamasweet” Nonyane, 36, who face charges of money laundering and theft over allegations that they unlawfully withdrew funds belonging to two deceased estates.

Makuwa said after tracing the money to Masha’s late husband, he called her to find out if she had authorised that the money be moved and used to buy a Mercedes-Benz.

“She said no. She also told us she was still waiting for the money to be received. She told us she didn’t know her husband’s money was being used to purchase a Mercedes-Benz,” Makuwa said.

“She [the widow] also told us she was still waiting for the money to be received.” — Col Putiki Daniel Makuwa of the Hawks

According to Makuwa, the couple had gone to the dealership in Wonderboom, Pretoria, and Nonyane made the application for the purchase of the vehicle.

“They were informed that buying a car of such magnitude is not like buying bread at a supermarket; they wanted certain documents before it could be approved.

“On October 28, 2024, the deal was sealed. On the same day, an amount of R100,000 was sent to the dealership, and again on the same day at a later time, an amount of R1.65m.

“The monies were sent from an estate that belonged to Masha,” Makuwa said.

After the transaction was made, he said, Tibana called the dealership to say a mistake was made in sending them R100,000 and instructed them to send the money back to Nonyane’s bank account.

“Nonyane played a big role in this matter because we believe he knew that his wife did not have such a huge amount of money in her bank accounts,” Makuwa said.

“We are also not sure if he indeed knew that the money was coming from an estate, but we assume that because they are a couple, they would know how much there is in each other’s personal bank accounts.”

When they went to fetch the vehicle, the dealership wanted proof of power of attorney from the accused before releasing it.