VICTIMS of Ahmed Talaat, director and
chairman of the allegedly fraudulent
ATL Tours, keep surfacing as the
case drags on at the Johannesburg
Magistrates Court. Ahmed was
arrested on January 8, after more than
40 customers came forward late last
year to open cases of fraud against
ATL Tours (see TNW January 22, 2014).
The number of fraud cases against him
is currently already standing at 83.
Delene Brown, owner of tour operator,
Travel Zone, told TNW she had recently
been contacted by Andre van Wyk,
senior investigator at Forensic Data
Solutions (FDS). Andre told her that
Ahmed had Travel Zone business
cards and seemed to have regularly
presented himself to the travel trade
as owner and director of Travel Zone.
Meanwhile, Delene confirmed to TNW
that Ahmed had never been employed
by Travel Zone in any capacity, nor had
he ever been the owner of Travel Zone.
“Since its inception, Travel Zone has
only had one owner, and it’s definitely
not Ahmed Talaat,” said Delene
She added that Travel Zone
had dealt with ATL Tours in the
past and, like many other tour
operators, Travel Zone had
also allegedly been defrauded
by Ahmed. She said Ahmed
made a large number of
bookings for ATL Tours through
Travel Zone for which he never
paid. By the time it became
clear he would never pay, it
was too late and Travel Zone
was liable for the airline and
hotel bookings, leaving it out
of pocket.
To date, Ahmed remains
behind bars. Since his arrest
in January this year, he
was repeatedly denied bail.
Although Ahmed’s attorney at
the time, Nadeem Mahomed,
informed the court that
arrangements had been made
to transfer monies from Egypt
to South Africa to reimburse
clients, no money had
surfaced as yet.
According to Detective
Inspector Morton, since
his incarceration, Ahmed
has contacted some of the
complainants, requesting
them to visit him in jail. As
a suspect in this matter he
is not allowed, by law, to
make contact with any of the
complainants in the case.
Andre warns: “If you do cut
some sort of deal with him
to withdraw your case and he
fails to deliver, you will not be
able to reopen your case.”
Ahmed appeared on several
occasions before the court
with no lawyer to defend him,
forcing the magistrate to
postpone the case. According
to Andre, this is likely due
to non-payment. Ahmed was
formally warned on August
12 that, if he appeared again
without an attorney, the trial
would no longer be delayed
and he would either need to
defend himself or take up
legal aid.
In August, Ahmed brought
a lawyer, but the case
was postponed again for
administrative reasons. His
next hearing will take place on
October 7
