The Provincial Commissioner of North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, welcomed the eight years imprisonment sentence handed down by the Swartruggens Regional Court on Tuesday, 28 September 2021, to 29-year-old Nonhlanhla Matinyane, who is a former employee of a bank in Swartruggens.

Matinyane’s sentencing came after she was arrested and charged for three counts of fraud and seven of money laundering.  Whilst working at the bank, Matinyane illegally transferred money amounting to R536 000,00 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. 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 and cases of fraud and money laundering were opened. 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 and amount of R17 500.00 back to the bank that could not be retrieved.

The Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, congratulated the Investigation Officer, Colonel Peter Phale, of the Provincial Commercial Crime Unit, for working tirelessly in cooperation with the bank investigation team in ensuring the arrest and sentencing of the accused.

Source: South African Police Service