A Durban husband and wife, Ruvanya Ramiah and Ayush Rambally, pleaded guilty to fraud and theft charges in court yesterday for defrauding the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society of millions of rand.

Appearing in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday, June 21, Ramiah pleaded guilty to 354 counts of fraud, amounting to over R12m. Rambally pleaded guilty to 79 counts of theft, amounting to approximately R1.7m.

According to Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the NPA regional spokesperson, Ramiah stated in her plea that she was employed as a finance officer at the KwaZulu-Natal Blind and Deaf Society from March 2012 to February 2019.

“Her duties included salary payments and general payments, and she had access to, and control of the organisation’s banking accounts. She said she committed the fraud by paying herself inflated salaries, twice and sometimes more times in the same month,” said Kara.

Kara says Ramiah also created false payments to suppliers and fabricated evidence to support those payments. The money was going into her bank account and that of her husband, Ayush Rambally.

“Rambally said during his plea that he took the money knowing very well that he was not entitled to it, as he was neither an employee nor a creditor of the society,” says Kara.

Kara says Rambally admitted to being aware that his actions were unlawful and intended to permanently deprive the society of the funds, which he would use for his and his wife’s purposes.

The matter was remanded to August 4 for pre-sentencing and correctional supervision reports. The pair will remain in custody as they were previously denied bail,” says the NPA spokesperson.