Two office administrators at a Gqeberha wholesaler have been convicted of stealing more than R1.7m from their employer by diverting payments meant for a supplier into a bank account they had opened in the supplier’s name.
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the Gqeberha Regional Court convicted Megan Brooks, 42, and Leroy Bezuidenhout, 36, of fraud and money laundering on Wednesday.
Eastern Cape Hawks head Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya welcomed the convictions.
“The conviction demonstrates the Hawks’ commitment to investigating sophisticated commercial crimes and ensuring that persons who abuse legitimate business processes for personal financial gain are brought before the courts,” Ngwenya said.
Brooks and Rochanda Leander, 41, had worked as office administrators at Keens Wholesalers in Korsten, handling telesales, processing supplier invoices for payment, and preparing the deposit slips and cash that went out to suppliers.
Keens paid some of its suppliers in cash, with the money and the banking paperwork handed to Fidelity guards who drove the deposits to the bank.
That was the process the scheme used.
Deposit slips were drawn up to look like ordinary payments from Keens to a supplier, Health Shield.
The cash, though, went into an account opened in Health Shield’s name, and the proceeds were split among those involved.
The transactions ran from September 2017 to February 2018 and cost the company more than R1.7m.
Leander was sentenced in 2020.
Brooks and Bezuidenhout were arrested, released on bail and appeared in court repeatedly before their conviction.
They return to court on October 13 for sentencing.
