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Former FNB bank employee Mzwakhe Khumalo has been found guilty of stealing R400,000 from a client's bank account. Khumalo was found guilty of fraud, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) 121 of 1998, and two counts of contravention of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002. His co-accused Lwando Dingiswayo pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced in March last year.
The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks) revealed that between December 2017 and March 2018, an investment account of a German national was accessed by two bank employees. The account holder's contact information was changed, and the existing signing authority was cancelled. The account was then transferred to the complainant's cheque account and attempted to withdraw money from it. A hold was placed on the cheque account, and an amount of R400,000 was successfully withdrawn before the account was frozen by the bank.
The client discovered R400,000 missing from his account upon returning from Germany and lodged a complaint in March 2018. Investigations revealed that the complainant suffered a potential loss of over R4.8 million if further transactions were not intercepted. Khumalo and Dingiswayo were arrested in September 2021 and released on a warning. Dingiswayo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in jail, while Khumalo's sentencing has been postponed for April 29.
