A resident of the Eastern Free State Hopewell Mpanduli Daguma (32) , was found guilty of fraud during his appearance before the Bethlehem Regional Court this week.
This comes after a Standard Bank forensic investigation discovered that one of its employees, who was based at one of the bank’s branches in Harrismith, issued a fraudulent bank card using a client’s details.
According to a statement by the Hawks, R1 million was consequently transferred to a bank account belonging to Daguma and a further R500 000 was withdrawn from the client’s account.
A case was opened and handed over to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit in Bethlehem, which resulted in Daguma and the Standard Bank employee being arrested. They appeared in court and were later released on a R5000 bail each.
The police say after Daguma was released on bail, he went and sold the vehicle that he had allegedly bought with the stolen money for an amount of R125 000. This caused for his bail to be revoked, and he was rearrested.
The court has sentenced Daguma to 10 years imprisonment, of which 4 years are suspended. The court also convicted him on a charge of money laundering, assisting another person to benefit from the proceeds of unlawful activities and defeating the ends of justice.
The trail of the Standard Bank employee is yet to be concluded.
Sazly Hartzenberg
