Pretoria – A former employee at Makana Municipality in Eastern Cape, was convicted of fraud and money laundering by the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
Kwanele Ernest Mbangi, 42, and his accomplices, Nohlane Mlonyeni, 48, and Kutala Gabavana, 43, are accused of employing ghost workers.
Between April 2014 and February 2015, the trio submitted fraudulent employment contracts and attendance registers to the municipality paymaster.
The wages were paid to the accounts of Mlonyeni and Gabavana.
The trio syphoned more than R31,000 during the transactions.
NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana discrepancies were discovered during auditing.
“The matter was reported to the Gqeberha Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team of the Hawks for investigation, which resulted in the arrest of the trio on May 13, 2016.
“Thy appeared in court on the very same day of their arrest and were released on warning,” Mahanjana said.
The matter has been postponed to June 21 for sentencing.
In a similar matter last week, a former housing and planning manager at Lesedi local municipality in Heidelberg has been convicted for more than R100 million fraud by the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court.
Mahanjana at the time said Tshepo Malekane operated his scheme between January and December in 2020.
The 40-year-old generated a fraudulent power of attorney, instructed conveyancing law firms to transfer ownership of 78 properties belonging to the Lesedi Local Municipality, and sold them at a price that is not the actual value of the property.
Malekane forged the municipal manager’s signature when he illegally sold the council’s vacant land.
Malekane will be sentenced on 26 April.
IOL