Rhodes University’s former finance administrator, Wendy Zimasa Xabiya, was on Thursday found guilty of racketeering by the Gqeberha Commercial Crimes Court.
The matter has been remanded to June 20 for sentencing.
Xabiya, who faced a string of charges including forgery, fraud, money-laundering, and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, was arrested on December 3 2021 and subsequently released on warning.
The crimes were committed between January 2017 to December 2018.
Police spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said in her capacity as finance administrator, Xabiya processed fraudulent travel and subsistence claims for payment. The funds would then be deposited unlawfully into the bank accounts of a beneficiary.
Xabiya would borrow bank cards from people close to her and lie that her account had been overdrawn, according to Mgolodela, who said Xabiya would tell her associates that she was expecting money and did not want it deposited into the overdrawn account.
“During the auditing period, discrepancies were picked up and the matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation in 2019. Xabiya’s fraudulent conduct is reported to have prejudiced the university of more than R486 000,” said Mgolodela.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
