Alleged Bluff fraudsters’ sentencing postponed

Cindy Saunders was charged with over 130 counts of fraud, totalling more than R11m.

September 16, 2022

Yoshini Perumal 1 minute read

A Bluff woman, who was due to be sentenced for stealing millions from a former employer, will have to wait longer to hear her fate after sentencing in the matter was adjourned to November 4.

According to her plea statement, Cindy Saunders (37) said she suffered from an obsessive-compulsive gambling disorder and had to raise money to pay back gambling debts.

She was charged with over 130 counts of fraud, totalling more than R11m, and is expected to be sentenced in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on September 14.

Saunders and her co-accused, Terrence Raju, and two companies which Raju represented, South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans, are accused of defrauding Saunders’ 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.

ALSO READ: Bluff shipping con artist swindles millions

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.

Saunders said that 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 rands.

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.

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