Bluff woman to be sentenced for stealing millions from former employer
According to her plea statement, the accused said she suffered from a compulsive, obsessive gambling disorder, and had to raise money to pay back gambling debts.
A Bluff woman who was charged with over 130 counts of fraud totaling more than R11 million, is expected to be sentenced in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday, September 14.
Cindy Saunders, 37, together with her co-accused, Terrence Raju, and two companies which he represented, South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans, are accused of defrauding her former employer, Nicholson Shipping, and another company between 2017 and 2019.
Saunders, who worked as an export controller at Nicholson Shipping, pleaded guilty to 45 counts of fraud in February last year, and was granted R50 000 bail.
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According to her plea statement, Saunders said she suffered from a compulsive, obsessive gambling disorder, and had to raise money to pay back gambling debts.
She said she resolved to defraud her former employer in order to raise the money.
Saunders said she could not perpetrate the crimes on her own, and therefore she approached Raju, to assist her to commit the acts of fraud.
She said he would also facilitate the transfer of money into and out of the accounts of South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans for her benefit.
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Saunders said her co-accused also benefited financially from the fraud committed.
According to her plea, Saunders said as part of the fraudulent scheme, she generated false invoices by her former employer for containers allegedly sold to Valley Irrigation.
“I intended the invoices to show a fictitious history of transactions between Nicholson Shipping and Valley Irrigation. I intended to use it to secure other fraudulent transactions and payments,” she said.
Saunders said she and Raju continued to misrepresent that South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans, had sold containers and rendered services to her former employer amounting to millions of rand.
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Saunders said she was paid the amount of R11 432 527.52 by South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans, from the monies paid to them by her former employer. She in turn paid Raju, the amount of R604 000.
In 2018, Saunders resigned from her former company. She reportedly started up her own company, Precise Shipping Solutions, which specialised in the movement of personal and household goods for immigration.
Southlands SUN reported in March last year, when the business collapsed, that Saunders blamed the Covid-19 pandemic. The business has subsequently gone into liquidation, and hundreds of distressed victims took to social media to air their frustrations against the company.
In addition to negative reviews on platforms such as Hello Peter, Saunders’ victims, claimed she had underhanded business dealings, and created the Facebook group Prosecute Precise Shipping.
Saunders subsequently started two crowdfunding pages on which she shared her gambling addiction and that she was in need of funds to help turn her life around. She admitted that she has lost family and friends as a result of the drama that surrounded her. However, the pages were later taken down.
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