Three people have been sentenced to jail time for fraud committed against the uMkhanyakude Municipality in the Mkuze area, KwaZulu-Natal.

Lindiwe Ngomane, 48, Nhlanhla Christian Gumede, 65, and Raphael Mbili, 44, were sentenced at the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

Regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Ms Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said at the time of the offence in March 2006, Ngomane had worked as an accountant at the municipality.

“During this time, she managed to fraudulently obtain the passwords/credentials of senior officials who were authorised to effect payments on behalf of the municipality. She then used the said credentials to transfer approximately R6.2 million from the Municipality’s bank account into different banking accounts which she had loaded onto the system,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.

Gumede and Mbili assisted Ngomane in obtaining the bank account details for one of the accounts belonging to someone who owned an investment company, where she deposited about R1.5 million, said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.

Evidence led in court revealed that the owner of the bank account had been unaware that the money transferred into his account had been stolen. The accused eventually appeared in court on J50 warrants after the fraud was discovered.

“In court, the State, represented by Advocate Abbey Letsholo, led the testimony of several witnesses including two of Ngomane’s subordinates who testified that she had approached them for assistance in carrying out the fraudulent scheme,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.

“Letsholo also led the evidence of two of the officials whose passwords Ngomane had obtained and used to affect the various fraudulent payments. They told the court that they had not authorised the transfers in question, even though their credentials were used.”

During sentencing, the court deviated from the minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, citing the accused’s age and poor health as reasons for the deviation.

Ms Ramkisson-Kara said the court also took into consideration that the accused were first-time offenders with no previous convictions. The court considered that after the money belonging to the municipality was transferred into the unauthorised banking accounts, the bank accounts were frozen and almost half of the R 6.2 million initially stolen from the municipality was recovered.

For the four counts of fraud (all taken as one for sentencing), Ngomane was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment (three years of which were conditionally suspended for five years) and will serve an effective seven years imprisonment.

Gumede and Mbili who were convicted of one count of fraud and four counts of theft (all taken as one for the purpose of sentencing) were sentenced as follows: Gumede was sentenced to five years imprisonment in terms of Section 276(1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, and Mbili was sentenced to six years imprisonment half of which is conditionally suspended for five years, resulting in the effective sentence of three years imprisonment, said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.

“The NPA welcomes the successful finalisation of this matter. We congratulate the prosecution and the investigating teams on a job well done, in holding the accused accountable for their actions,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.

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