Africa-Press – South-Africa. A former creditors clerk has been found guilty of 132 counts of fraud involving more than R4 million.
On Wednesday, the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Debbie Buitendag, 40, a former employee of Amka Products (Pty) Ltd, to two years’ imprisonment.
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Buitendag had been employed as a creditors clerk for eight years at the time of the incidents. Her duties included paying utilities and labour brokers, as well as making purchases, said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“Buitendag changed the banking details of Holistics Remedies (Pty) Ltd, a company that used to do business with Amka Products (Pty) Ltd, replacing them with her own Standard Bank account details. From May 2017 to February 2021, Buitendag made payments of over R4 million to the subsidiary company that had her banking details,” said Mahanjana.
The fraud was discovered during a company audit, and the matter was reported to the police.
Buitendag was arrested on 10 March 2021. In court, Buitendag pleaded guilty to the charges, said Mahanjana.
Mahanjana said:
In delivering his sentence, Magistrate Ignatius du Preez said that had Buitendag not been the primary caregiver to her two children, she would have been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment due to the seriousness of the offences.
He said long-term imprisonment would have had an impact on the children and sentenced her to two years’ imprisonment instead.
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