Former Kings president Cheeky Watson has labelled charges of corruption and money laundering as 'malicious'.

Watson was arrested on Friday and appeared in court before being released on a reported R2,000 bail. According to the Herald, his co-accused are Nadia Gerwel, Andrea Wessels, Mandisa Mkaza and Stephan Pretorius.

Upon leaving court, Watson told e.tv that the 'charges are malicious and that we will get to the bottom of it'.

WATCH: Cheeky Watson arrested by Hawks

The charges are believed to be linked to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s IPTS (Integrated Public Transport System) funds of R200-million that were squandered.

It's alleged that money was channeled through Access Management, who were the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium operators.

Watson, Gerwel, Wessels and Mkaza appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Friday, while the fifth accused, Pretorius, is believed to be in Cape Town.

National spokesperson for the Hawks Robert Netshiunda, explained the reasoning behind the arrests: 'Through our investigation, we uncovered that corruption took place, and that R12-million [from the budget] was misused by the suspects, and so we are investigating further if the money was used for the right purposes or not.'

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Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images