Africa-Press – Lesotho. STANDARD Lesotho Bank has asked the Northern Region High Court to stop the pension pay-out to an employee it accuses of stealing over a million maloti.
The bank’s CEO, Anton Nicolaisen, wants the court to interdict the Standard Bank Pension Fund from paying Liteboho Mokobori until the case is finalised.
He said Mokobori was employed at the bank until he was suspended after he was accused of fraud. The suspension, he said, was done as investigations against him were ongoing.
However, he explained that Mokobori resigned with immediate effect after he realised that he was under investigation. He said Mokobori resigned in April hot on the heels of an internal investigation into fraudulent activities within his department, which was initiated in March 2023.
“This was after he was interviewed by the bank’s investigators and having not been satisfied with his answers they asked him to submit a written explanation,” Nicolaisen said.
“He submitted a sick leave and when it expired, he instead submitted his resignation letter,” he said. Mokobori’s resignation did not stop the investigation.
The investigation concluded that Mokobori conducted fraudulent and unauthorised transactions in concert with his colleague and private individuals which resulted in the loss of over M1.2 million.
Nicolaisen said the theft was discovered when the management conducted surprise checks on Auto Teller Machines (ATM) after realising that there was a huge and unexpected cash shortage in its three installations in Leribe.
He said the bank instituted a claim of damages against Mokobori over that amount. Nicolaisen said Mokobori cannot be allowed to shrink his financial obligations and employ his notorious strategy of immediate resignation, cash in the pension benefits and vanish for good.
“This will make a mockery of the justice system more especially in circumstances where it is reasonably apparent that Mokobori was for all intents and purposes absconding and avoiding an investigation and subsequent disciplinary action.
That would be tantamount to allowing employees to benefit from their wrong doing and this should be stopped, he said, adding that “otherwise the provision of the Pension Fund Act will be rendered obsolete”.
He said Mokobori again took a loan amounting to R529 172 as a home loan and personal loan without any prospect of settling it in as much as the pension pay-out is estimated to be a measly R225 000.
He said the recovery of the claimed loss and the outstanding indebtedness will be a paper victory should the bank be successful if the pension pay-out is processed regard being had to the sudden resignation by Mokobori.
He said at this present moment, Standard Lesotho Bank Pension Fund has not yet paid Mokobori his pension in as much as he has already put the Pension Fund bank on notice.
He said since cases take a long time to finalise in court, it is necessary to interdict the pension pay-out so as not to fall foul of the Pension Fund Act 2019.
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