Woman busted for allegedly defrauding Mantsopa Municipality over R200k appears in court

A 44-year-old woman is expected to appear before the Ladybrand Magistrate’s Court today for allegedly defrauding the Mantsopa Local Municipality over R200 000, which was earmarked for compensating the service provider for services rendered.

It is believed that on 24 December 2020, the Budget Manager at Mantsopa Local Municipality received an electronic mail from a suspect who was pretending to be a service provider called Project Pioneer Construction requesting for an outstanding payment of R225 289.69 as stated on the fraudulent invoice that was mailed.

Thabo Mofutsanyane police spokesperson Mmako Mophiring says that the Budget Manager knew that there was indeed an outstanding amount of money to be paid to the service provider and requested permission from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to make the payment.

“The payment was granted and the money transferred to a bank account provided by the bogus service provider.

“A few days later, the legitimate service provider approached the municipality and requested the outstanding payment. The Budget Manager then sent proof of payment to the service provider who realised that it was not their banking details and also queried the e-mail that was sent to the municipality by the bogus service provider. The municipality confirmed with the bank that they had paid money to the suspect,” says Mophiring.

Mophiring says afterwards, the matter was then reported to the Hawk’s Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Team based in Bethlehem for further investigation.

A warrant of arrest was circulated as a wanted suspect.

“She was located and arrested at Pretoria North and handed over to the Hawks,” detailed Mophiring.