Pretoria – Adele Senekal, 46, will spend eight years in prison after she was convicted of fraud and money laundering in Bloemfontein.
The Free State spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) Captain Christopher Singo said Senekal appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Friday, where she was convicted and sentenced.
“During January 2022, the owner of Mystic Blue Trading received information from Absa Bank where they had noticed apparent fraudulent activities with regards to specific beneficiaries’ details that did not match the banking profiles. The victim then gave the bank permission to proceed with their internal investigation,” said Singo.
He said preliminary investigations revealed Senekal was defrauding the company by capturing the beneficiaries’ names before altering bank account details to her own. Payments would then be made to her.
“She was working as an administration assistant and human resources manager of the company at the time. These transactions took place between the period of 2013 to 2022,” said Singo.
“As a result of the fraudulent activities the victim was prejudiced and suffered a total loss of more than R5 million. The matter was reported to the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team based in Bloemfontein for further investigation.”
Senekal handed herself over to the Hawks’ serious commercial crime offices in Bloemfontein on 28 April.
“The court sentenced Senekal to twelve years direct imprisonment on a charge of fraud of which four years is suspended for a period of five years. She was also sentenced to eight years direct imprisonment on a charge of Contravention of Section 4 of POCA 121 of 1998 [money laundering] of which five years is suspended for a period of five years,” said Singo.
“Both the sentences will run concurrently. She will serve eight years direct imprisonment.”
Last month, Mathilda Shongwe, 35, was found guilty and sentenced on charges of money laundering by the Nelspruit Commercial Crimes Court in Mpumalanga.
Hawks’ provincial spokesperson in Mpumalanga Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said Shongwe was arrested in August last year by the Nelspruit Hawks’ serious commercial crime unit.
“Shongwe was sentenced to five years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years. The sentence followed after the arrest of the two accused, Rejoice Sindisile Magagula (40) who is the director/ member/ servant of the company, Fundzani Trading cc and Mathilda Shongwe who is the beneficiary,” said Sekgotodi.
She said the two unlawfully claimed undue funds by submitting false tax returns on behalf of the company, to the South African Revenue Service (Sars) in 2021.
IOL