A CRIMINAL case was opened against suspended Richmond Hill Crime Forum chairman Alan Mounter yesterday amid allegations he was being paid to render security services he was not authorised to provide.
This comes after senior investigators from the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) launched a probe about two weeks ago.
The Herald earlier revealed that Mounter, 51, had been paid a stipend for providing security services while using a vehicle donated by Williams Hunt Port Elizabeth for community driven crime-fighting initiatives.
Mounter has admitted to the allegations.
The day after the story was published, PSIRA’s head office in Pretoria requested Port Elizabeth authorities to investigate the case.
"We conducted our own investigation which has led to a criminal case being opened,” a PSIRA official, who declined to be named, said.
"The case under investigation is of operating a security business without being registered to do so, as well as additional charges such as providing a service without the necessary security grades to do so.”
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Alwin Labans confirmed a case had been opened yesterday afternoon and that detectives were working closely with PSIRA officials.
Mounter, who ran the community driven Richmond Hill Neighbourhood Watch I-Patrol project, was suspended as chairman of the Richmond Hill Crime Forum after being found guilty of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm last month.
Mounter hit Luyanda Msengana, who was squatting in an abandoned building in Central, with a stick across the face. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for five years. He is appealing the sentence.
Mounter, along with other residents, has since established the Richmond Hill Residents’ Association which "supports the crime forum”.
