Vrede – An examiner at a licensing centre and a driving school instructor have been arrested in Vrede, Free State, for fraud involving the unlawful issuing of learner driving licences.
The arrests were made by the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) national traffic anti-corruption unit to address fraud and corruption in the traffic sector.
“Last week four individuals were arrested at Temba licensing centre in Tshwane while fraudulently attempting to take learner licence tests on behalf of absent applicants,” the RTMC said on Tuesday.
“Twelve examiners of motor vehicles were also arrested in Polokwane last month for issuing vehicle roadworthy certificates for vehicles that were never presented to testing.”
The RTMC said for the past eight months, members of the National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit and the Hawks have been investigating operations at the Vrede Driving and Learner Licensing Centre.
“Their investigations revealed that a specific driving school instructor was colluding with an examiner employed at the licensing centre for his clients to be fraudulently assisted to obtain learner licences,” said RTMC.
“The instructor allegedly recruited and introduced learner licence applicants to the examiner who then assisted applicants by surreptitiously indicating the correct answers to the questions while in the process of writing the test.
“The applicants were made to pay a bribe of R1 500 for the fraudulent service.”
RTMC said the suspects are scheduled to appear in the local magistrate court soon.
