By Thys Khiba – Free State Harrismith Magistrates ‘Court convicted accused Thandeka Mlangeni (34) for fraud and money laundering in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act as well as contravention of Electronic Communications and Transactions Act on Thursday.
The conviction of Mlangeni comes after the matter was reported to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Bethlehem.
Standard Bank through a preliminary investigation conducted by its forensic investigator discovered Mlangeni issued a fraudulent bank card using another client’s details.
“She then transferred R1 million to a bank account belonging to her boyfriend, Hopewell Mpanduli Daguma (34),” said Hawks provincial spokesperson, Captain Christopher Singo.
Daguma is already serving his 10 year sentence which he received on 15 April 2021.
Singo indicated that a further R51 000 was also withdrawn from the same victim’s account. This is believed to have happened between January 2020 and February 2020.
The case against Mlangeni was remanded to 28 November 2022 for sentencing.
Meanwhile, the Hawks secured forfeiture order against four Ficksburg based companies: Nivana Holdings Pty Ltd, Traggology Pty Ltd, Stone Curfew Holding and Sunny Penny Ltd.
The four mentioned companies are implicated in allegations of theft and money laundering.
This comes after the Bloemfontein High Court granted another forfeiture order of more than R5 million.
“They allegedly received money from the Central Bank of Lesotho under suspicious circumstances. It is further alleged that the payments were made with the assistance of Lesotho government officials who intercepted legitimate vouchers that were authorised for services provided by other companies,” said Singo.
The matter was assigned to the Hawks’ Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI) based in Bloemfontein last year in October.
“The R18 million which was fortified during the first phase of the ongoing investigation was handed over to the Lesotho government officials on 3 June 2022. Meanwhile, the criminal investigation is ongoing.”
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