Kelly involved in South African investment scam

American R&B singer Robert Kelly, popularly known as R Kelly, has been formally asked to explain his involvement in an alleged investment scam, the Durban regional court heard on Wednesday.
A Durban woman, Busisiwe Priscilla Zakwe has implicated R Kelly in an alleged investment scam that apparently swindled more than 50 people, many of them pensioners.
Zakwe was arrested in 2005 for allegedly taking thousands of rands from investors by promising them they would benefit from ticket sales if they brought an R. Kelly tour to the country in 2005.
Kelly never appeared in the country, but Zakwe claims she deposited R10.5 million into his account.
State prosecutor, Blackie Swart, said on Wednesday he had written a letter to Kelly’s agent Jason Miller requesting the singer to explain his involvement in the scam.
"I sent an email and also faxed a letter to Kelly’s agent last week. We have not received any response from them yet. We will contact them if they do not respond because we want to deal with this matter urgently,"
Zakwe briefly appeared at Durban Regional Court on Wednesday and the matter was postponed to May 6 because the state wants to add more charges against the accused.
On that date, the state and the defence will meet and exchange documents and set up a new trial date.
From 2005, Zakwe had been facing 41 charges of fraud and last week 10 more victims reported their cases.
"We cannot start the trial due to new developments in this case. The state and the defence need to see documents which were taken from the residence of the accused during a raid," said magistrate Sibusiso Mayeza.
He said another suspect was also going to be charged in connection with the case.
The court was packed when Zakwe appeared in court on Wednesday. Most of the victims are pensioners and according to the charge sheet, some victims were swindled of more than R100 000 each.
Attempts to get hold of Kelly's agent were not immediately successful.
SOURCE: IOL