RUSTENBURG - A 29-year-old former bank teller was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for stealing a substantial amount of money from a Lotto winner, North West police said.
Spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh said Nonhlanhla Matinyane was sentenced at the Swartruggens Regional Court on Tuesday.
She was arrested on March 9, 2020 after investigations revealed that she had stolen money from a bank client who had won an undisclosed amount of money in the national lottery.
“While working at the bank, Matinyane illegally transferred R536 000 to three different accounts belonging to family members and to an unsuspecting account holder, from one of the bank account holders who won the lottery,” Myburgh said.
“This was done without the account holder’s knowledge. The bank investigating team noticed these huge transfers and contacted the account holder. The 49-year-old victim had no knowledge of these transfers, because she did not receive any notifications as the accused blocked her phone from receiving bank notifications.”
All the transactions were traced to Matinyane. Cases of fraud and money laundering were opened and she was arrested for theft.
“She pleaded guilty on all charges. The accused was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for fraud and three years’ imprisonment for money laundering, wholly suspended for five years. The court also ordered that she must pay an amount of R17 500 back to the bank, that could not be retrieved,” Myburgh said.
Meanwhile, the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal said Selvan Naick, 50, and Yuveshin Pillay, 38, were granted bail at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday, on charges of fraud and money laundering which occurred in Durban in 2015.
Spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said Pillay was released on a R1 500 bail and Naick was granted R5 000 bail. Their case was postponed to October 11, and more arrests were expected.
“It is alleged that the accused’s accomplice manipulated letters of instruction for the bank to release payment to the wrong accounts. He allegedly changed the banking details to reflect incorrect details. As a result, R1.3 million was stolen and distributed into different accounts.
“A case of fraud was reported at Point police station and the case docket was allocated to the Hawks members from Durban Serious Corruption Investigation for further investigation,” Mhlongo said.
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