Mziwakhe Khumalo, 33, a former bank employee was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud, money laundering and contravention of the electronic communication transaction Act 25 of 2002.
The Gqeberha New Law court sentenced Khumalo on August 8.
Spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (known as the Hawks), Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, said his sentencing occurred after he was arrested by the Hawks’ Gqeberha Serious Commercial Investigation on September 29, 2021.
He then appeared in court the same day, and was granted bail. His co-accused, Lwando Dingiswayo, was also serving his term.
“During the period between 2017 and 2018, Khumalo and Dingiswayo unlawfully and intentionally accessed then changed the contact information of the victim’s bank account who was in Germany during the period without his authorisation,” Mhlakuvana said.
“The accused further changed the existing signing authority on the account and made new signing authority to Dingiswayo.”
The accused then opened a phoney cheque account and began transferring funds from the victim’s investment account to the fraudulent account, causing the victim to lose R400,000 in cash.
During that time, the accused sought to transfer further monies, but in vain. In these failed attempts, the victim was nearly defrauded of more than R4.8 million in cash.
Khumalo made multiple court appearances before being sentenced by the Gqeberha New Law Court on August 8.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud, six years for money laundering, and one year in prison for violating the Electronic Communication and Transaction Act 25 of 2002.
In addition, all sentences will run concurrently. Khumalo will serve 15 years in direct incarceration.
IOL