FREE STATE – Sylvia Becker (37) appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 03 April 2024 where she was convicted and sentenced for fraud and contravention of Section 4 of POCA, Act 121 of 1998 (money laundering).
During May 2021, the complainant discovered that Becker created ghost employees at Letaba Lab Central Bloemfontein and transferred salaries into her personal bank account as well as the bank accounts of her children. She was working as a bookkeeper and quality manager at Letaba Lab Central at the time of the incident. These fraudulent transfers of salaries took place between December 2019 and May 2021. As a result of the fraudulent activities, Letaba Lab was prejudiced and suffered a total loss of R1 ?300 000.
The matter was then reported to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Bloemfontein for further investigation. Becker was arrested on 23 June 2023. She appeared in court on several occasions culminating in her conviction. The court sentenced Becker to ten years imprisonment for fraud and eight years imprisonment for contravention of Section 4 of POCA, Act 121 of 1998 (money laundering), of which both the sentences were suspended for five years on condition that she is not found guilty of fraud and money laundering during the period of suspension. The court also ordered her to pay an amount of R600 000 back to the complainant in monthly instalments of R10 000 over a period of 60 months. She was ordered to pay the confiscation amount of R133 370 provident fund to the complainant. She was not declared unfit to possess a firearm.
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Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=52385.