A woman from the Northern Cape, Simangele Sangweni (33), and her company, Multi Quipments, as a juristic person, were found guilty on 17 counts of fraud, forgery and uttering, as well as 25 counts of money laundering.
They were sentenced earlier in April in the Kimberley Specialised Commercial Court, says Lt. Col Tebogo Thebe, spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
During August 2021, the accused submitted a fraudulent change of banking details letter and invoices to the Phokwane Municipality. This letter and invoices purporting to be Vaalharts Water, a service provider of the municipality.
The accused misrepresented themselves and misled the Phokwane Municipality into paying R455 510 into the business account.
In September 2021, the same accused submitted a fraudulent change of banking details letter and invoices to the Frances Baard District Municipality. This time purporting to be the service provider Sedibeng Water.
The Frances Baard District Municipality was misled and paid R469 918 to her company’s business account.
Multi Quipments was sentenced to a fine of R100 000, wholly suspended. Sangweni was sentenced to ten years’ direct imprisonment.
