Former finance manager Prishne Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud and theft, resulting in losses exceeding R3m. Khan, who absconded from her trial last year, was employed as a bookkeeper at the Northern Cricket Union from June 2015 to January 2017, processing payments for various service providers. She misappropriated R350,000 over six weeks from May to June 2016. After resigning, she worked as finance manager at Customer Loyalty Consultant (Pty) Ltd from March 2017 until September 30, 2017, where she manipulated customer banking details to funnel payments into accounts controlled by her husband and cousin.
Khan pleaded guilty to the charges and attributed her criminal conduct to financial difficulties, claiming she needed the money for essentials, including purchasing a motor vehicle for her husband. However, evidence in the pre-sentence report revealed that she had used the stolen funds for gambling. During sentencing proceedings, Khan sought leniency based on her responsibilities towards her three minor children and cited ill health as factors in her favor. However, prosecutor advocate Pulane Segalo argued that Khan had committed serious offences and betrayed the trust of her employers for personal gain. The matter was postponed to March 3, 2023 for the judgment on the sentence. Khan absconded, leading to a warrant for her arrest. More than a year later, on Friday, she was located in Nigel, leading to her arrest and court appearance on Monday.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the ruling and reaffirmed its commitment to holding offenders accountable for commercial crimes.
