The Lekwa Local Municipality (LLM) has opened an official criminal case against an employee who allegedly attempted to divert money intended for municipal use into her private bank account.

According to Lubabalo Majenge, spokesperson for the LLM, the acting municipal manager, Mthembeni Jiyane, opened a criminal case of fraud, forgery, uttering and theft against a senior creditors clerk who was suspended from her position.

The case was opened at Standerton Police Station.

Majenge explained that the office of the municipal manager was notified by the finance department that an employee allegedly tried to divert R97 601 into her personal bank account.

The money was meant for one of the municipality’s service providers.

“The municipal manager immediately instructed that the employee be placed on precautionary suspension and that access to the municipal banking system be revoked without delays,” said Majenge.

An urgent internal investigation was launched and the Internal Audit division performed an audit on all transactions processed by the suspected employee over the past three years.

According to Majenge, this audit confirmed that the employee had three separate banking accounts. She allegedly used these accounts to divert more than R1,4m from municipal service providers over the past three years.

According to the final results of the audit, the employee used the same method to allegedly transfer the money each time.

During the process of capturing details on the system, the woman substituted the banking details of the service provider with her own.

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