By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg and his wife Dezzi were arrested by heavily armed Hawks members at a restaurant in Gauteng on Tuesday night.
They face multiple charges, including fraud, money laundering, theft, and racketeering, as part of a broader investigation into a diamond investment scam that defrauded investors of over R4 billion.
Diamond investors were scammed of more than R4 billion since 2019, Hawks spokesperson Colonel Philani Nkwalase” said in a statement.
“More arrests are imminent, and the suspects are expected to appear in Bronkhospruit Magistrate’s court on Thursday, 24 October. The charges which include, but not limited to fraud, money laundering, theft and racketeering.”
The private investigator Mike Bolhuis also confirmed on Tuesday that Louis and Dezzi have been arrested. He thanked whistle blowers, the public, the media, his own investigative team and singled out Bruwer and his team for his “brilliant” work.
“We still request the public to come forward with any information regarding Louis. We’ve already discovered three more bank accounts. We have ‘shitload’ of people working together on this case.”
According to Bolhuis this was the first of many arrests. “Several institutions is involved, including the South African Revenue Service (Sars). Members of the South African Police Service (Saps), the Hawks, other specialist services and many more institutions is going after them.”
Liebenberg is a well-known Jacob Zuma benefactor. He gave cows to the former president and co-funded his court case against prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan.
He was born in Port Nolloth about 85km south of the Namibian border in 1956, the son of a preacher. A family friend had introduced the young Louis to the delights of diamond mining and he has not looked back since (apart from his politics).
In 2015, Liebenberg was linked to the Sicilian-born Ferrante family, who had settled in South Africa in the 1950s and who had close links with Messicati Vitale, “who holds the Mafia throne of the Villabate borough of Palermo, according to a an exposé by the Mail & Guardian.”
Liebeberg, at the time, was in a romantic relationship with Salvatore Ferrante’s eldest daughter, Giuseppina.