Africa-Press – South-Africa. A suspended State Security Agency (SSA) employee accused of defrauding the intelligence service of more than R1 million made a brief appearance in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Monday.
A stayed warrant of arrest was issued for Thuso Leonard Oesi after he failed to appear in court earlier this month. At the time, his lawyer presented the court with a medical certificate on his behalf.
On Monday morning, the lawyer handed over further documents pertaining to Oesi’s health status, hoping it would “give the court comfort”, the lawyer said.
As a result, the court cancelled the warrant of arrest. The case was postponed to 10 and 11 October for the plea and trial respectively.
Oesi is charged with seven counts of fraud, three of contravening the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, nine for forgery and nine for uttering.
The SSA SAP system administrator is accused of defrauding the entity of around R1.1 million between August 2019 and February 2020, News24 previously reported.
He allegedly created fictitious payment advance authorisations for himself for training courses.
It is alleged that he did this by compiling a request to attend training courses offered by external service providers; attaching a copy of a printed approval by the acting head of the intelligence academy and requesting a temporary cash advance from the finance claims unit.
He did this by using forms that appeared to be approved by the acting chief information officer, who was his superior at the time.
Oesi also allegedly requested that payment be made into his personal bank account and presented invoices from the training provider, a form settling the claim, and a request to clear and settle the debt in his name.
The State alleges that Oesi then reversed the payments on the SSA system to reflect that no funds were due and payable by him and that the courses had been attended.But it is alleged that he never attended any courses.
The State accused him of pocketing the money that was meant for training.
Oesi, who had a monthly salary of R46 266, allegedly amended the payment system to reflect a net salary of R80 268.71 in January 2020, and then R174 141.21 in February, News24 previously reported.
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