Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a City of Cape Town worker implicated in a R2.5 million fraud scandal.
The disappearance of Alistair Stanbull from the City’s Human Settlements Department sent tongues wagging as search parties assembled across the hiking trails at Constantia Nek last week.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Wesley Twigg says Stanbull was last seen on Monday and his car was found near Ou Kaapse Weg on Tuesday morning.
Twigg reports: “On Monday Alistair told his wife that he was going for a hike and left his premises in Steenberg and never returned.
“His vehicle was found on Ou Kaapse Weg on Tuesday morning. At the time of his disappearance he was wearing a grey long-sleeve T-shirt and khaki hiking pants.”
Stanbull was arrested along with another colleague in November 2022 and later released on R10 000 bail.
At the time, the State alleged that the employees of a construction company, including the directors, supplied false invoices to the City and allegedly misrepresented some of the work they charged for as being finalised.
Stanbull and his colleague allegedly allowed the invoices to be authorised even though they knew the work was not completed.
When granting Stanbull and his now retired colleague bail, Magistrate Ronel Oliver said she did not regard the accused as a flight risk or that there was a likelihood of them committing a crime while out on bail.
It is understood that the charges have since been withdrawn against some of the accused and the case transferred to the Bellville Commercial Crimes Unit.
The provincial National Prosecuting Authority did not respond to queries to confirm or deny this.
The City of Cape Town has confirmed Stanbull is currently employed by the municipality but declined to comment on whether or not he was facing any disciplinary charges, while facing these criminal charges.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, revealed on Friday the Provincial Search and Rescue launched an extensive search of the area, and requested the City’s assistance.
Smith said: “The City deployed hundreds of staff, comprising of search teams, accompanied by members of SANParks, Table Mountain National Park, Wilderness Search and Rescue, while we also allocated investigators from our Special Investigation Unit.
“In the instance of any discovery, we knew it essential to protect any potential crime scene and to prevent any form of evidence from becoming contaminated.
“Our divers from Fire and Rescue worked alongside those from SAPS Dive Unit, as well as SAPS K9 Unit, from their Search and Rescue.
“Our Drone teams worked along with our Provincial EMS Drone teams, where all efforts were properly coordinated and documented on site, from our Disaster Risk Management, mobile Joint Operations Centre.”
Smith said by 2pm the teams had covered all hiking trails, the dam area, and all surrounding terrain, with no sign of the missing man.
He confirmed: “The search was thoroughly performed, the area searched by using the grid methodology and everything recorded in detail.”
By yesterday, Stanbull was still missing and the search continues.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Detective Sergeant Sharel Voorman on 082 393 3558 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
monique.duval@inl.co.za