Pretoria - The finance manager at Elim Engen filling station in Limpopo, Martinis Wessel Pretorius, 43, has appeared before the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for allegedly stealing R469 000.
Hawks provincial spokesperson in Limpopo, Captain Matimba Maluleke said the theft was picked up during an audit of the business.
“Between November 2021 and January 2022, the shop was audited and it was discovered that R469 00 was stolen from the safe. A case of theft was registered and transferred to the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation for further probe,” Maluleke said in a statement.
“While the Hawks were busy with the investigation, it was established that the accused was the only person who was in possession of the safe key during the period in which the money went missing.
“The accused (Pretorius) was absent from work without leave after the audit report was issued, and he was successfully traced and arrested,” he said.
Pretorius was granted R2 000 bail and his case was postponed to November 15.
Earlier this month, 65-year-old Jocoba Johanna Kitshoff, an administration official at the Groblersdal Academy, appeared before the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court 2022 after she was arrested on charges of fraud.
At the time, Maluleke said Kitshoff was nabbed by the elite crime-fighting unit’s Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team members for allegedly stealing R3.6 million from her employer.
“It is alleged that in August 2021, the accused accessed the school’s bank account after school hours and transferred R3.6m into her personal bank account without being authorised,” said Maluleke.
“The school discovered the alleged embezzlement of funds and reported the matter to the Hawks. During the investigation, it was discovered that the accused has actually lost all that money through an investment scam,” he said.
Kitshoff was granted R6 000 bail and her case was postponed to November 18.
In June, a 28-year-old former bank employee was arrested by the Hawks in Limpopo for allegedly stealing almost R37 million belonging to a deceased client of First National Bank (FNB).
“It is alleged that on April 25, the suspect who was an FNB consultant at Makhado branch, opened the profile of the client who had just died in a vehicle accident a day before (April 24, 2022) without any authorisation,” Maluleke said at the time.
“It is further alleged that the suspect connived with his accomplice to open a new bank account and linked it to the deceased's account and started spending all the money from the deceased’s account,” he said.
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