An ailing former senior accountant at Impala Platinum Ltd (Implats) in the North West has been given a suspended sentence after she was convicted of stealing as much as R850 000 from the company.
The Specialised Commercial Crime Court, sitting in Tlhabane, convicted 56-year-old Hlengiwe Masilela of 24 counts of fraud and 23 of money laundering committed at Implats.
The court sentenced the ailing fraudster to five years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.
The National Prosecutions Authority on Wednesday said the court took into consideration Masilela’s poor state of health – she is on 24-hour oxygen support.
Senior accountant Masilela committed the offences between 15 December 2010 and 30 May 2012 when she was head of the Trades Department at Implats.
During that period Masilela was responsible for managing accounts and was the final approver of all transactions on the SAP Accounting System.
The court heard how the accused manipulated the system and defrauded Implats using vouchers fraudulently acquired from the Waterfall Mall In Rustenburg.
Evidence provided was that Masilela forged signatures of other Implats staffers to request the vouchers from the mall, which she collected herself and, in some instances, arranged for someone else to pick up.
These vouchers were used to buy all kinds of goods from various stores in the mall. The stores would then invoice Implats for the purchases made using the vouchers.
When the over-a-decade-old fraud came to light, Masilela was summoned to appear in court on 7 September 2020. She was let out on a warning.
This week, the matter was finalised.
In aggravation of sentence, the state prosecutor Advocate Geo Nel argued that the accused manipulated her position to commit the crimes in a company that entrusted her with a responsibility to manage, but she instead used her colleagues’ fraudulent signatures in the process.
He further argued that the accused only stopped stealing because she got caught and pleaded not guilty to the offence.
The accused, Masilela, did not pay back the stolen money after receiving her pension payout.
The court agreed that the offence was serious and that the accused showed no remorse.
However, the court also highlighted the need to consider that the offences were committed more than 10 years ago and that the 56-year-old convicted offender requires special care due to her Ill health.
