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Johannesburg - Another forged document has been discovered in the Ponzi scheme allegedly headed by Barry Tannenbaum, the Financial Mail reported on Thursday.
The publication said it had obtained a letter that was purportedly sent from the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) to First National Bank on May 15 2009.
"It discusses how an application to have funds released to a Hong Kong bank account was being fast tracked and should be released within the next four working days."
According to the Financial Mail, this letter was shown to Qatar-based real estate group Barwa and was meant to confirm a payment from drug manufacturer Aspen.
"Reliable sources confirm Barwa put $30.3m into Frankel [Tannenbaum's company]."
The letter was used to show that the purchase of drugs overseas was legitimate, the Financial Mail said.
When the publication showed the document to Sarb spokesperson Samantha Henkeman she said it was the bank's letterhead but it was cut and pasted from another document.
Tannenbaum is alleged to have operated an enormous Ponzi scheme where presently about R15nb is unaccounted for.
His company Frankel Chemicals supposedly was in the business of buying pharmaceutical ingredients and then selling them on to generic drug manufacturers.
The Financial Mail has already established that Tannenbaum supported his scheme by showing prospective investors fraudulent purchase orders from major pharmaceutical companies such as Aspen.
- Sapa
