The newly-appointed head of the Lyttelton police station in Pretoria is facing 55 charges of fraud, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday.

The Afrikaans daily said director Vuyokazi Ndebele, of the Meadowlands police station in Johannesburg, started in her new position last week.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed that Ndebele was facing charges of fraud in a court in Parys in the Free State.

The charges relate to her allegedly defrauding the police and the Intertol toll gate company out of R1743.

Ndebele apparently did not pay any toll fees between February and October 2007 at the Vaal Plaza toll gate.

She allegedly told officials she did not have to pay because she was a police woman.

Police spokesperson Julia Claassen said she had been appointed to the new position because "a person is innocent until they are found guilty".

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