Durban - A 37-year-old Durban woman was sentenced to an effective nine years’ direct imprisonment for fraud amounting to about R16 million.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Cindy Saunders, who worked as an export controller at RenCorp CC, trading as Nicholson Shipping, pleaded guilty to 45 counts of fraud, in the Commercial Crime Court in Durban.
“She admitted to having a gambling addiction and said she decided to defraud her employer and another company, SK Boyz (Pty) Ltd, to pay off her gambling debt.
“To this end, she enlisted the help of her co-accused and his companies,” she said.
As part of the fraudulent scheme, the NPA said Saunders generated false invoices.
“Saunders said in her plea that at the time of the commission of the offences, she knew that her actions were fraudulent and solely for her personal financial gain and that of her co-accused.”
Ramkisson-Kara said Saunders and her co-accused defrauded SK Boyz by telling them that she needed a business partner to assist with financing the purchase of shipping containers.
The duo promised SK Boyz profits when the containers were sold.
She said Saunders admitted to doing that although she had had full knowledge that SK Boyz would not be paid back the money.
Senior State advocate Danette Cole led the evidence of the complainant, as well as an accountant, who outlined the damage the fraud had caused to the businesses.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in sentencing Saunders, the court had taken into consideration that she had a gambling addiction and had sought counselling to rectify the problem and improve her life.
“For counts 12 to 36 of the fraud, where Nicholson Shipping is the complainant, Saunders was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. For counts 37 to 54, she was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, of which three years is suspended for five years, on condition that she is not convicted of fraud or theft during the period of suspension; resulting in nine years’ imprisonment,” she said.
The NPA said on counts 133 to 135, where S K Boyz was the complainant, Saunders was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.
“The court ordered that the six years and eight years’ imprisonment run concurrently with the nine years imprisonment, thus resulting in the effective sentence,” she said.