Kholiwe Moses Janda (53) was convicted by the Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday (28 September) for fraud and money laundering after he transferred R1,7 million from the JB Marks municipal account to his own business account.
According to Capt Tlangelani Rikhotso, Hawks spokesperson in the North-West Province, it has been established that on 31 May 2018 Janda had hacked into the municipal account and processed the transfer.
“The money was supposedly transferred into the account of the SA Post Office. Investigations revealed however that the funds were instead transferred into an account belonging to a company called Ludick Glassfitters and Printers in Soweto which belongs to Janda”, Rikhotso said.
The accused was subsequently arrested on 23 January 2019 and released on R100 000 bail. After a few court appearances, he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for fraud and further 15 years imprisonment for money laundering. Both sentences will run concurrently, therefore he will serve an effective fifteen 15-year jail term.
Netwerk24 reported that only R270 000 of the stolen money was recovered and the court ordered that the money be repaid to the municipality. The spokesperson of the municipality, William Maphosa, confirmed that Janda was not an employee of JB Marks municipality.
The Provincial Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in North-West, Major General Patrick Mbotho, welcomed the conviction and applauded the incredible work put in by the investigating team. He further warned against stealing especially from government entities because the ripple effects thereof, affect service delivery.
