Clerk convicted of theft, ordered to repay employer R130 000

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File Photo

Published Jun 17, 2022

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Pretoria – The Kimberley Magistrate’s Court has convicted a 34-year-old clerk for fraud and money laundering after she stole R133 000 from her employer.

Sizel Burger was employed as a financial clerk by HB Power and Cording in 2016.

“She was responsible for all the payments to the company creditors using internet banking. She defrauded the company, by changing banking accounts of legitimate beneficiaries with hers and... family members. Bank statements of the company would show that the suppliers were paid, but to wrong account numbers,” said police spokesperson Captain Tebogo Thebe.

Thebe said the matter was reported to the Hawks – the SA Police Service’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation – for further investigation, which led to Burger’s arrest and conviction.

“She was convicted of 78 counts of theft and sentenced to five years suspended imprisonment on condition that she repays R133 000 to the company within 12 months,” added Thebe.

On Tuesday, a former manager at AfriForum in the Free State was sentenced in the Bloemfontein Regional Court for fraud and defeating the ends of justice.

Pieter Hendrik Myburg, 36, was employed at AfriForum offices in Bloemfontein as a regional co-ordinator.

According to Hawks provincial spokesperson, Captain Christopher Singo, the complainant (AfriForum) was informed by Myburg of the theft of cameras at its premises.

A preliminary investigation was done by the company after information was received that Myburg may be involved.

“The outcome of the internal investigation revealed that Myburg was involved in fraudulent activities where he submitted various fraudulent quotations to head office for payments for purchasing the cameras, which were never bought.

“Some of the cameras that he submitted quotations for were not reported as stolen.

“The payment from the head office would then be used for personal gain,” Singo said.

He said the fraud, which took place from January 2016 to January 2018, resulted in AfriForum losing more than R1 million.

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