DURBAN - The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) have arrested an Absa Bank employee for the alleged theft of R103 million.
In a statement yesterday, the Hawks said Xolela Masebeni was employed at Absa’s Sandton branch in Gauteng.
“Absa engineer Xolela Masebeni allegedly transferred R103m into six different bank accounts over four months,” said the Hawks.
The Hawks said Masebeni allegedly transferred the money between September 2021 and December 2021.
In other cases related to bank officials, in November last year IOL reported that a First National Bank (FNB) manager, Zandile Sibiya, who was based in Johannesburg, was released on R10 000 bail after she was arrested for allegedly defrauding her employer of R4m.
“It is alleged that between September 2019 and August 2021, Newtown’s FNB operations manager, Zandile Sibiya, 39, fraudulently processed forex payments and transferred approximately R4m into her bank account,” said the Hawks.
In the Eastern Cape, it was reported that 30-year-old Lwando Dingiswayo, a former employee of FNB, was released on R1 000 bail by the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crime Court after she was arrested by the Hawks on numerous charges of fraud and being in contravention of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.
The Hawks said it was alleged that between December 8, 2017, and February 14, 2018, the FNB investment account of a German national was accessed by two employees. The contact information of the account holder was changed, the signing authority on the account was cancelled and a new signing authority was granted to a fictitious John Mackay, who supposedly formed part of a syndicate, said the Hawks.
The Hawks said that after an unsuccessful attempt to transfer funds from the client’s investment account to a cheque account, R400 000 was transferred from the investment account to a Standard Bank account that was opened using fraudulent documentation.
THE MERCURY