Accountant who defrauded employer millions released on bail
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The State says it is ready to commenced with a fraud case against a 38 years old who allegedly defrauded his employer of R 10million in a space of a little over five (5) years.
NPA Spokesperson in the North West Henry Mamothame Jacobus Van-Niekerk who was employed by Botselo Mills (Pty) as an accountant, had been allegedly sending invoices to his employer to make payments on services that were not rendered from January 2017 to July 2022.
“It is alleged that between January 2017 and July 2022, Van Niekerk submitted forms fraudulently requiring approval for payment to be made into the accounts of service providers, for a service that was not rendered.”
“It was further discovered that in the forms, he provided the names of the service providers that are in the company database, but fraudulently replaced their banking account numbers into his six personal banking accounts that he holds with two major banks.”
But it was not long until his alleged fraudulent activities were uncovered by thorough police investigations.
He subsequently handed himself over to the SAPS’ Provincial Commercial Crimes Unit, on 30 May 2023 accompanied by his attorneys, and he was charged with fraud and money laundering amounting to over R10 million.
He is facing 337 charges of fraud and 20 of money laundering.
It was further discovered that he allegedly had working relationships with some of the companies he submitted for payment.
“He will be returning to court on July 19th, for the matter to be transferred to the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. He was granted R12 000 bail, and the court ordered him to report to his nearest police station once a week between 06h00 and 18h00.”
“Investigations into the matter are completed, and the state is ready to proceed with pre-trial conferencing in the next court sitting” said Mamothame.
