Habana’s toppie bust
ESTRANGED: Ex-Bok Bryan & Bernard Habana
The father of former Springbok Bryan Habana was arrested on Monday.
Bernard James Habana was nabbed for fraud in relation to a case the police have been investigating for almost five years.
He was brought to Linden police station before later appearing in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court, reports IOL.
The court granted him R1 000 bail and his case was postponed to a later date.
A law enforcement official close to the case said Bernard had been caught after he allegedly posed as a travel booking agent.
Police spokesperson Dimakatso Sello said: “The suspect in this matter was arrested today (May 30) and he appeared before the Randburg Magistrates’ Court.”
The case was reportedly opened in 2015 at the Linden Police Station when a woman alleged that she had deposited money into an account belonging to Habana and his girlfriend, identified as Mbalii Mtetwa.
Payments totalling R12 000 were allegedly made into this account.
In 2015, IOL reported that Habana had been arrested after he was accused of defrauding a Joburg hotel by failing to pay the bill presented to him.
In court in 2013, an affidavit by Bryan Habana’s mother, Faith, revealed how she had to desperately save her Joburg home from a disgruntled Cape Town woman who alleged that her husband had conned her out of R1 million.
The relationship between Habana senior and his famous son soured after Bryan told the media in 2014 that the reason he had fired his dad as his business manager in 2010 was that he was stealing from him.