Former Absa employees defraud the bank of over R 1million

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An internal investigation by Absa bank and the Hawks has led an arrest and successful prosecution of two former employees at the bank, Absa for fraud, theft and money laundering.

The duo aged 31 and 30, respectively, Florika Shenay Owusu and Abongile Tyusha, appeared before the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes.

It is said that Owusu, who was initially stationed at the Patensie branch, and Tyusha transferred to the Dutywa branch, used their access to ABSA’s electronic banking system to carry out fraudulent activities. They were entrusted with unique user codes, which the bank used to trace all transactions performed by its employees.

They opened ABSA accounts in the names of deceased individuals and foreign nationals without their knowledge. They issued debit cards for these accounts to facilitate the fraudulent transfers and withdrawals. They identified and reactivated 18 dormant accounts, mainly belonging to foreign passport holders, including deceased South African citizens.

These reactivated accounts were then used to funnel stolen funds into the fraudulent accounts created by Owusu and Tyusha.

Their criminal acts saw the bank losing over R 1 million after distributing the money among themselves in their different accounts and those in the names of deceased individuals and one account belonging to a foreign national with an expired passport.

They were sentenced to five years for fraud and theft, and 10 years for money laundering, with four years suspended for five years on the condition that they do not violate the Organised Crime Act during that time.

The sentences will run concurrently, covering the fraudulent activities that took place from November 2019 to June 2021.