For the next six years, Gcobani Mntumni will call a prison cell his home.
Mntumni, a financial officer at the Mbashe municipality in the Eastern Cape, was on Monday sentenced by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for adding bank accounts belonging to his siblings and friends onto the municipality’s payroll.
He defrauded the municipality of R304 000. The matter had been reported to the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigating unit in Mthatha to probe.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Bonnie Nxumalo said: “The municipality paid the ghost employees. The fraudulent activities were discovered in March 2015.”
Nxumalo added: “His brothers and a friend were also arrested but the charges against them were later withdrawn. Mntumni pleaded guilty on February 23 2022 after numerous court appearances.
“He was sentenced yesterday to 10 years imprisonment of which four years were suspended.”
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