The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has more than quadrupled its property portfolio after uncovering a scam it believes has fleeced the metro out of hundreds of millions of rands. The discovery, which implicates several municipal employees, comes after a land audit revealed thousands of ‘off the books’ properties owned by the municipality all over the Bay.

TimesLIVE says the report was commissioned by Mayor Athol Trollip three months ago‚ following a presentation by corporate services that outlined thousands of leases of municipal property which were unaccounted for. Trollip ordered a forensic audit into sub-directorates of both the corporate services and human settlements divisions. The report delves into the sub-letting of commercial‚ residential and vacant land by the municipality‚ which it was unaware it even owned. According to Trollip‚ the report will be given to the police.

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