Tsotsi Actress Terry Pheto’s House Auctioned To Recover Lottery Fraud Monies

TERRY Pheto’s lavish house was auctioned on Thursday, 2 March but, it was not sold. They had about 28 people who registered online to be part of the auction but nobody arrived to the physical location for the auction.

According to Asset Auctions, they did not get an opening bit so they passed it and they went to R2,5 million and they also did not get an offer on the property.

“Now we will take offers out of hand and we already have two people who want to view the property on Thursday afternoon, and I am sure we will have an offer within the next week within the right region of R4 to R4,3 million,” said a representative from Asset Auctions.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said the funds used to build the house were allegedly obtained through siphoning of money from the National Lottery Commission (NLC).

This comes after a preservation order was granted to the Asset Forfeiture Unit to freeze Pheto’s Bryanston home in Gauteng.

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The money is alleged to have come from a non-profit organisation awarded through NLC funding, meant for the roll-out of a public health campaign.

“The SIU investigations have found that the money used for the purchase of the land and construction of the home came from non-profit organisations that received NLC funding meant for the roll-out of a public campaign and culturally sensitive medical intervention projects aimed at achieving traditional circumcision practice,” SIU said in a statement.

Asset Auctions stated that bidding for the house commenced at R3 million. It is estimated that the total value of the property and the house is about R5 million.

Terry Pheto has previously denied any fraudulent involvement with the lotteries commission last year. Her legal representatives indicated that they would not contest the preservation order.

The auction follows a preservation order granted by the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria, to the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on 4 November 2022 to freeze Pheto’s Bryanston home,” said the SIU.

Former chief financial officer Philemon Letwaba, Chief Executive Officer Lesley Ramulifho, and the attorney for the commission are also facing fraud and corruption charges.