A 30-year-old woman has been sentenced to 30 years in jail by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in the Eastern Cape.
Anele Mqhathu was convicted on charges of theft and money laundering on Tuesday.
At the time of her crime, she was employed as the manager at the Engen garage in Tsolo.
The provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said in January 2021, the owner of the Engen garage noticed a cash shortage from the money that was received on a daily business transaction.
The owner conducted an internal audit to trace the root cause of the cash shortage which was escalating.
“The audit covered the period from January 2018 to August 2021. The audit revealed that all shortages that were discovered had no calculations which were supposed to be done by Mqhathu.
“Mqhathu was confronted by the owner about the identified shortfalls, however, she deliberately misled the owner that the variances were from the creditors who had not yet paid their accounts and therefore would be cleared as soon as the creditors settled their accounts,” Mhlakuvana said.
The owner further conducted a cashier audit where it was established Mqhathu also requested payout amounts ranging from R1,000 to R10,000.
The payouts had no supporting documentation as it was supposed to.
This led to the matter being referred to the Hawks for further investigation.
“The Hawks’ investigation further revealed that Mqhathu had also stolen the monies she was supposed to deposit into a drop safe as part of her duties. She deposited the money into her First National Bank (FNB) personal account and disguised it as if the money was deposited by her sister. The revelations exposed that Mqhathu used the stolen money to buy building materials from various hardware stores. The employer had suffered a total financial prejudiced of over R700,000,” Mhlakuvana said.
Mqhathu was later suspended and arrested on February 20.
She was sentenced to 15 years of direct imprisonment for theft and 15 years of direct imprisonment for money laundering.
The sentences were ordered to run concurrently with no option of a fine.
Head of the Hawks in the Eastern Cape Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya congratulated the investigation team.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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