“He loaded corresponding credit notes to fraudulently balance out scheduled payments, inducing Clicks Group to pay more than R4m to his fake company,” said Ntabazalila.
“Clicks group forensic investigators confronted him and requested to interview him in connection with the suspicious fraud. On their way to the boardroom, carrying a black backpack, he asked to use the bathroom.
“The investigators insisted that he leave the backpack with them while they waited outside. He bolted out of the bathroom, fleeing the premises and leaving his backpack behind.”
Ntabazalila said the investigators found his and his girlfriend’s identity documents, his driver’s licence and bank cards, his company’s bank card, her bank card and a debit card with no name printed on it. He said they also found “a memory flash disc with the words “Auditor General South Africa” printed on it. The flash disk contained information on his company’s registration and the six fraudulent invoices.”
Court prescribes eight-year sentence for finance clerk who swindled Clicks out of R4m
Image: Philani Nombembe
A finance clerk who used fictitious invoices to dupe Clicks into paying his company R4m has been sentenced to eight years behind bars.
The Bellville commercial crime court sentenced Themba Maneli, 28, on Friday after he was convicted of fraud and money laundering. Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the prosecution, said a debtor’s manager uncovered Maneli’s underhanded dealings in February 2019.
Ntabazalila said Maneli, his company, Maneli Enterprises, and his girlfriend Nanky Tozama Kanase, and her company, Business Connectivity Solutions, were charged with six counts of fraud and two counts of money laundering.
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“He loaded corresponding credit notes to fraudulently balance out scheduled payments, inducing Clicks Group to pay more than R4m to his fake company,” said Ntabazalila.
“Clicks group forensic investigators confronted him and requested to interview him in connection with the suspicious fraud. On their way to the boardroom, carrying a black backpack, he asked to use the bathroom.
“The investigators insisted that he leave the backpack with them while they waited outside. He bolted out of the bathroom, fleeing the premises and leaving his backpack behind.”
Ntabazalila said the investigators found his and his girlfriend’s identity documents, his driver’s licence and bank cards, his company’s bank card, her bank card and a debit card with no name printed on it. He said they also found “a memory flash disc with the words “Auditor General South Africa” printed on it. The flash disk contained information on his company’s registration and the six fraudulent invoices.”
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Ntabazalila said the investigators found that Maneli transferred monies between several bank accounts including that of his girlfriend, the two companies and another bank account.
“The court convicted Maneli on six counts of fraud, and a count of money laundering. It acquitted Kanase and the two companies as it found that they were not party to his crimes,” said Ntabazalila.
The court sentenced Maneli to eight years' imprisonment for fraud and a year for money laundering. The sentences will run concurrently.
Maneli was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
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