An awaiting-trial prisoner allegedly used a cellphone fitted with an identity manipulating app to pose as National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Shaun Abrahams to dupe prosecutors to drop car theft charges against him.
Now, Jermaine Prim, who has a pending case of car theft, is also facing charges of contravening section 41 (5) of the NPA Act, fraud, obstruction of justice and impersonating a police officer.
He allegedly committed these crimes while incarcerated at the Free State’s Mangaung Correctional Centre.
According to court documents seen by The Star, Prim allegedly used a spoofing mobile app to pretend to be Abrahams and then contacted prosecutors on the West Rand, instructing them to withdraw his charges.
At the time, he and three other accused were detained for being linked to the so-called Showroom Gang, notorious for stealing people’s cars using identity theft technology.
Prim is said to have used the same technology in 2013 when he posed as Sandton police station commander Brigadier Allan Billings and called Hugo van Zyl, chief operating officer at the SA Insurance Crime Bureau, to enquire about the unit’s investigation into the Showroom Gang.
Van Zyl and Abrahams are State witnesses in the matter.
A Pretoria-based digital forensic investigator said cases of spoofing were on the rise. He said there was software and dozens of apps being used by hackers who wanted to defraud their victims or monitor their movements and private conversations.
“It’s highly illegal. Basically these softwares are used in generating random cellphone numbers for a hacker to use if they want to send malicious messages to their victims or the device they want to exploit.
“The apps generate random cellphone numbers that are untraceable. It’s a very dangerous tool if it lands in the wrong hands. It goes even deeper because it can be used for voice manipulation or to listen to third-party conversations or read their text messages,” the investigator said.
An official close to investigations said gang members often used the spoofing app to dupe car dealers and panelbeaters to release cars to them without the owner’s knowledge.
NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said Prim’s car theft case was being heard in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court.
She said Prim and his co-accused appeared in the court last week and the case was postponed to November for tria. The Star learnt yesterday that more than five new dockets have been opened against Prim and more arrests are pending.
It’s alleged that three days after being arrested on June 5, 2017, Prim called Andre Lamprecht, former chief prosecutor on the West Rand, and Nthabiseng Mokoena, former senior public prosecutor for the Soweto and Johannesburg magistrate’s courts.
“The accused was not aware that Lamprecht and Mokoena were no longer employed by the NPA at the time he made contact with them. He misrepresented to them that he was Abrahams. The accused told Lamprecht that accused 1 in that case would plead guilty to the charges if the State withdrew charges against the other three accused. He also told Lamprecht that accused 3 (who later turned out to be himself) was a witness for the prosecution of one of the cases against the Guptas,” the charge sheet stated.
Prim appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court last Thursday where his case was postponed and transferred to the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court in September for further investigation.
When asked by magistrate Vincent Ratshivhumo if he wanted legal representation, Prim said this would be difficult as he had moved between 18 prisons since March this year.
State prosecutor Richard Chabalala argued that the behaviour of the accused warranted his constant removal between prisons.
“The crimes he commits while in custody seem not to be coming to an end. For that reason, he has become a high security risk,” Chabalala said.
Ratshivhumo said he would stick to the law and not entertain Prim’s argument until the appropriate time came.
“I can only make a decision when you make an application to stop the prison transfers if they impede on you. You will need to get a legal representative that will state your application. Until then, I cannot make a decision on the matter,” Ratshivhumo said.
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