The woman found guilty of defrauding the Mantsopa Local Municipality in the Free State was slapped with a suspended imprisonment by the Welkom Commercial Crime Court on Tuesday, 30 April. The sentencing of Maria Louisa Venter (44) was a result of an investigation by the Bethlehem Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said the court sentenced the fraudster to eight years’ imprisonment for one count of money laundering, for defrauding the Mantsopa Municipality of R225 289,69 in December 2020. She said the court suspended the sentence for five years, on the condition the accused is not found guilty of the same crime for the duration of the term.
Venter’s sentencing was the culmination of compelling evidence presented by the Hawks after their probing. Initially, she was charged for fraud, forgery, uttering, and money laundering. “She was sentenced after pleading guilty to the charge of money laundering,” said Matoti, adding that no money was recovered to repay the municipality.
The money in question was an outstanding amount the municipality had owed service provider, Project Pioneer Construction. According to finding of the Hawks, Venter falsely pretended to be the service provider, having had knowledge of the money. Matoti said the accused thereby sent an email to the municipality’s budget manager, requesting payment of an outstanding amount of R225 289,69. “The budget manager, knowing that there was indeed an outstanding amount to be paid to the service provider, requested permission from the chief financial officer to make the payment. Permission was granted and the money was transferred to a bank account provided by Venter,” said Matoti. The fraud was discovered a few days later when the legitimate service provider approached the municipality requesting the outstanding payment.
“The service provider realised that it was not their banking details and also queried the e-mail sent to the municipality by the bogus service provider. The municipality confirmed with the bank that they had paid money to the suspect,” said Matoti.
Following their discovery of the fraudulent transaction, the Hawks launched an investigation, culminating with Venter’s arrest on 14 February and, ultimately, her sentencing. After evading the police, Venter was traced by the Pretoria police’s Detective Services at her hideout in Pretoria and was handed her over to the Hawks following her arrest.
