Africa-Press – South-Africa. Hildegard Steenkamp, the Boksburg woman who embezzled R537 million from her employer, started stealing just six months after she was appointed a junior accountant at Medtronic in 2004.
There were instances when she would steal over R20 million a month.
This is according to the testimony of Graham Dawes, who testified for the state at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Monday.
He was testifying in aggravation of the sentence of Steenkamp. Dawes is a forensic investigator with Deloitte and was part of a multidisciplinary team that was roped in by Medtronic to do a forensic investigation on Steenkamp.
Steenkamp pleaded guilty in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge in April this year.
Steenkamp pleaded to 336 charges related to the theft of R537 million from Medtronic (Pty) Ltd, where she was employed as an accountant.
Dawes told the court that Medtronic permanently employed Steenkamp in June 2004 as a junior accountant and by December 2004 she had already started stealing money from her employer.
Dawes testified that Steenkamp stole R537 million through 336 transactions between 2004 and December 2016.
She resigned from her job in January 2017.
“The accused had to process all value-added tax [VAT] for the company by reclaiming it from SARS [the SA Revenue Service] and a customs clearing agent the company was using.
“She set herself up as a beneficiary on the bank account of Medtronic. She also had her deceased husband as a beneficiary, and that’s where the money went,” Dawes told the court.
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Although the Asset Forfeiture Unit seized Steenkamp’s assets, Dawes said no money was recovered. He said the assets that were eventually seized have a value of just below R30 million.
Dawes said, during their investigations, they interviewed witnesses who included Steenkamp’s colleagues.
He said:
He said they analysed the bank statements of Steenkamp’s late husband, Mathys, and found that the biggest chunk of the money went into his bank account, which was used to fund unprofitable business ventures.
Dawes said Mathys died in December 2014 after choking while on holiday at Sun City Resort in North West.
According to Dawes, the last money Steenkamp stole was in two transactions of R6 million each in December 2016.
He told the court that although Medtronic suffered a loss of close to R770 million through Steenkamp’s theft, the company could absorb the loss as it is an international entity with significant financial resources.
Medtronic sells imported medical devices.
Dawes said Steenkamp stole money from her employer and defrauded SARS to the tune of R311 million, which the company had to repay to the revenue service.
He also said the company spent about R30 million on the investigation, which was conducted across multiple countries.
Medtronic is also in litigation with SARS over the VAT Steenkamp fraudulently claimed and, to date, has spent R6.3 million on the litigation, Dawes said.
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