Former FNB employee sentenced to prison for R6.4m fraud

A former First National Bank employee has been sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison for defrauding the bank and one of its clients of more than R6.4 million.

Mzwakhe Khumalo, a credit validation consultant at FNB’s Selby branch in Johannesburg, was part of a syndicate that defrauded Hans-Christian Bremm, a German national.

Khumalo’s co-accused, Lwando Dingiswayo, who was also an FNB employee, was convicted in a separate trial. Other members of the syndicate have either been convicted or are awaiting their day in court.

Khumalo and Dingiswayo used their positions to access two accounts belonging to Bremm. Dr Sabine Katrin Raab, also a German national living in South Africa, had full signatory authority on both accounts.

On 8 and 20 December 2017, and again on 6 February 2018, Khumalo and Dingiswayo accessed Bremm’s accounts without any valid business reason, authorisation, or the account holder’s knowledge.

In December 2017, Dingiswayo altered the contact details associated with Bremm’s account by changing the In-Contact phone number and email address, thereby facilitating unauthorised access to the account.

In January 2018, members of the syndicate, including individuals impersonating Bremm and one “John Anthony Mackay”, fraudulently cancelled Raab’s signatory authority and replaced it with Mackay’s details using forged passports.

In February 2018, the syndicate, under the guise of Mackay, initiated a transfer of more than R4.8m from Bremm’s seven-day investment account to the cheque account. They attempted to withdraw R500 000 from the cheque account at FNB’s Eloff Street branch in Johannesburg but were prevented when the teller became suspicious. Subsequently, they transferred the remaining R1.6m to a Standard Bank account under the syndicate’s control.

On 13 February 2018, the transferred amounts were identified as proceeds of unlawful activity. The following day, R400 000 had already been withdrawn in cash before a hold was placed on the remaining funds.

Just over R6m was subsequently recovered.

The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Gqeberha this week sentenced Khumalo to 15 years’ imprisonment for fraud, six years for money laundering, and 12 months for contravening the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

The court said Khumalo’s actions showed a clear disregard for the law. It rejected his application for leave to appeal the verdict and sentence.