Alleged diamond scam ‘kingpin’ Liebenberg to spend week behind bars

Liebenberg and five of his co-accused will remain behind bars for another week following Thursday's appearance in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate’s Court. 

The Hawks arrested the nine suspects in a three-day operation in Gauteng and the North West.

The group face over 50 counts of money laundering, fraud and racketeering related to their alleged involvement in defrauding unsuspecting investors of a collective R4 billion in a diamond Ponzi scheme run by Liebenberg’s company since 2019. 

The lawyers for Johannes Badenhorst, Adriaan Strydom, Christelle Badenhorst, and Nicolize van Heerden confirmed they were not ready to proceed with bail for various reasons, including the investigating officer's verification of bail information. 

The NPA’s Lumka Mahanjana confirmed that the state will oppose the application.

“We will be opposing bail for some of the accused. At this point, you must remember the reason we didn’t proceed with bail, the state needed to confirm their [the accused] addresses. So, once we make that bail application and we establish that, then we will decide if we will oppose or not oppose bail.” 

Meanwhile, the state didn’t oppose bail for Magdalene Kleynhans and Dorothea Schulenberg and Liebenberg’s former lawyer, Walter Niendinger 

Kleynhans and Schulenberg were granted R20,000 bail each, while Niendinger’s bail amount was set at R100,000.

‘VIVA MSHOLOZI’

Liebenberg appeared to be in high spirits during his court appearance, occasionally sharing a conversation with some of his alleged victims. 

Before proceedings formally began, the 60-year-old shouted “Viva MK, viva Msholozi” as he entered the dock.

Liebenberg has been linked to former president Jacob Zuma, now leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party after he reportedly paid Zuma’s legal fees through his company Tariomix. 

The case has been postponed to Friday, 31 October.

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