MBOMBELA – Police are investigating a local woman for fraud and theft committed at the region’s Realty 1 Nelspruit, White River and Barberton offices. She allegedly misappropriated trust money belonging to Realty 1’s clients.
The Hawks’ Commercial Crime Unit has been keeping a watchful eye on the suspect since it came to light in July that the money had gone missing, but had still not arrested and charged her.
According to Realty 1 Lowveld’s CEO, Mr Mark Pearce, the company followed an annual auditing process that alerted management to financial discrepancies in the department where the woman worked.
This led to the discovery of fraud and theft of “a substantial amount that will not be disclosed until the matter goes to trial”.
Pearce confirmed that the suspect had been a trusted employee of Realty 1 for many years, where her duties included facilitating payments.
“As soon as the crisis hit,” Pearce said last week, “we reported the matter to the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) and put various measures in place to stabilise the situation and minimise the effect it would have on our clients.
According to him, the EAAB was satisfied with the steps that Realty 1 had taken to stabilise client relations, ensure system integrity and regular payments to landlords, tenants and suppliers.
The EAAB protects the interests of the public and administers the refund of client deposits from the fidelity fund if the principal is not able to refund these deposits.
According to Pearce he had assured the EAAB that he put measures in place to refund all of the stolen deposits.
“We’ve had wonderful assistance from our attorneys, auditor, advisers and franchisor who have assisted us in ensuring that the interests of Realty 1 and its clients were taken care of to the best of our abilities,” said Pearce.
However, he admitted that service delivery had been disrupted during the past few months.
“A three-tier internal audit was conducted and responsibilities had to be reallocated within the business.
“We regret that clients, some with long-standing relationships with the company, were inconvenienced.”
Although the police investigations had not led to the woman’s arrest yet, they had been in communication with Pearce constantly regarding progress in the case.
“Of course me and my staff want this ordeal to be over as soon as possible but, more importantly, we want justice to be served. I understand that the police have to follow certain procedures to render evidence admissible in court. If that takes time, I’ll remain patient. What we want, is a conviction.” Pearce said there was a group of heroes who had carried Realty1 through this trying time.
“My team are fantastic. They have had to do an array of different, new tasks after we had reshuffled our internal operations, yet they pulled through. Words cannot thank them. They’ve stepped up to the plate and shown character and backbone. These are men and women who hold the brand’s values high,” said Pearce
