Africa-Press – Eswatini. A syndicate purportedly consisting of police officers, which allegedly obtained loans from credit providers through fraudulent means, has been uncovered.
The alleged elaborate scheme, which was supposedly spearheaded by a female police officer based in Mbabane, has seen Letshego Financial Services (PTY) Limited suffering a loss of close to E300 000. According to ongoing investigations that are being conducted by the credit provider, the female police officer, Khulekile Windfred Dlamini, would allegedly collect personal details of her colleagues, and then make an application for a loan using the details in her possession. It is alleged that she would make the application in the name of the colleague and further provide an account which would bear the name of the ‘loan applicant’. The account holder’s name would, however, have been tampered with to bear the name of the ‘loan applicant’. It is suspected by the credit providers that all the accounts, where the money was disbursed, belonged to Khulekile.
Suffered
Letshego was reportedly not the only credit provider that allegedly suffered a loss at the hands of the syndicate, as United Pay, a division of United Holdings, was also allegedly defrauded by the same police officer using the same modus operadi. It is suspected by the credit provider that the other people who are involved in this elaborate scheme are also police officers. It is believed by the company (Letshego) that there were other individuals involved and some might be within the company. These are allegations whose veracity is still to be tested in court.
Letshego has approached the High Court, wherein it obtained an order to seize some gadgets belonging to the female police officer. The court also directed Swaziland Building Society and First National Bank (FNB) to furnish the applicant (Letshego Financial Services) with all information relating to the accounts held by Khulekile in the respective banks.
“There is a suspicion that a number of people are involved and there is nothing that precludes the other officers from being involved in this whole fraudulent activity. This suspicion is premised on the fact that one of the victims, Nontsikelelo P. Dlamini, did not report the first incident involving United Pay,” submitted the company. In her founding affidavit, Fezile Zanele Ndlovu, who is the applicant’s Legal Consultant said: “From the brief investigations that have been conducted by the applicant, it appears that the first respondent (Khulekile ) has committed similar crimes previously, it further appears that she is in a syndicate and same must be addressed immediately.” Ndlovu averred that the applicant believed that Khulekile allegedly committed the fraud using her cellphone, computer, other articles and documents, hence the application for an order to seize same for purposes of further investigations.
Concerned
“Insofar as the financial institutions are concerned, the applicant seeks mandatory interdict directing them to release the respective account data and transactions that are connected to the first respondent. This information will direct the applicant to other individuals who are involved in the fraudulent activity that has exposed it to financial loss that, to date, stands at close to E300 000,” submitted the legal consultant. She emphasised to the court that the applicant believed that Khulekile did not perpetuate the fraudulent activity alone. She alleged that there were other individuals involved. Ndlovu further pointed out that the nature of the applicant’s business was such that it was at risk from cyber criminals, who would attempt to defraud it through the various virtual applications. She told the court that some of the security systems worked accordingly, but some, since they were at their infancy, faced some challenges.
According to Ndlovu, some of the security systems required diligence on the part of its staff members, particularly the sales agents who were responsible for personal loan applications. She said, in essence, the applicant created a number of virtual applications which were used by the clients to access its various credit facilities. Ndlovu related to the court that Khulekile was their client, who took a loan in/or about November 2012. She alleged that to date, she (Khulekile) owed the applicant an amount of E164 353.41. She alleged that Khulekile, however, failed to pay the agreed monthly instalments of E3 921.84 and this meant that she could not access any of the credit services offered. “I submit that this impossibility to access the credit services culminated in her resorting to fraudulent activity. From our brief investigations, it appears that she has defrauded other credit providers who are conducting a similar business as the applicant and also offer the same services,” alleged Ndlovu.
Colleagues
“The first respondent collects personal details of her colleagues. She will then make applications for loans using the details in her possession. She will make the application in the name of the colleague and further provide an account, which will bear the name of the loan applicant. The account holder’s name will, however, have been tampered with to bear the name of the loan applicant. What we suspect is that all the accounts, where the money is disbursed, belong to the first respondent,” submitted Ndlovu. She went on to tell the court that their suspicions were brought about by the fact that when they deducted the agreed instalment from the loan applicant’s employer, the employee approached the applicant and lodged a complaint and further advised that they never at any point made any loan applications to the applicant. She submitted that this was how the applicant discovered the fraudulent activity within its systems.
The applicant was represented by Banele Ngcamphalala of Mtshali Ngcamphalala Attorneys.
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