Two people have been sentenced after being found guilty of fraud and money laundering involving R2.3-million at Workforce Staffing, one was spared after turning state witness.
Sentencing took place at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) spokesperson, Wendy Nkabi, gave further details. She said Francois Malekana, a former contract manager, was found to have changed former clients’ employee banking details to his own. He then transferred the monthly salaries to himself.
Used ex-clients’ details to pay himself
He shared the fraudulent proceeds equally with Mlungisi Sakala, who was a human resources manager at National Rubber Matmin.
The court heard that the transactions happened between August 2017 and November 2020. Malekana created “ghost employees” using the details of three former staff members. He changed their bank account details to his own and paid himself their salaries.
He also added his wife, Charlotte Sakala, to the payroll. She received a monthly salary even though she did not work for the company.
“Further investigation discovered that another supervisor working for National Rubber Matmin, a client of Workforce Staffing, was also involved in creating and paying of ghost workers.
Two men shared proceeds every month
“The two supervisors shared the proceeds at the end of each and every month. The company suffered an actual loss of R2.3-million,” said Nkabi.
Malekana was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended for five years. Sakala was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with four years suspended for five years.
Charlotte became a state witness, and was cleared of all charges.
