This week, our story is about Lwando Dingiswayo (33) and Mzwakhe Khumalo (33), ex-bank employees who worked for FNB’s Selby branch in Johannesburg. Mzwakhe was found guilty by the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crime Court as the leader of an intricate syndicate that defrauded FNB and a German client, Hans-Christian Bremm, of nearly R6.4 million.
Keep this point in mind: “Dr Sabine Katrin Raab, also a German national living in South Africa, had full signatory authority on both accounts.”
Mzwakhe and Lwando used their positions to obtain unauthorised access to Bremm’s accounts. In December 2017, Lwando altered the contact details linked to Mr Bremm’s account by changing the email address and phone number on record. This effectively gave them control of the account.
After changing these details, in January 2018 they impersonated Mr Bremm and one “John Anthony Mackay.” Why? They fraudulently cancelled Raab’s signatory authority and replaced it with Mackay’s details using forged passports. Hebanna!
In February 2018, Mzwakhe and Lwando, now acting under the guise of Mackay, initiated a transfer of more than R4.8 million from Mr Bremm’s seven-day investment account into a cheque account. Guys, this is millions!
They then attempted to withdraw R500 000 from the cheque account at FNB’s Eloff Street branch in Johannesburg, but they were stopped when the teller became suspicious. Lol! If I was Mzwakhe I would have taken that as a sign to stop.
Undeterred, they transferred the remaining R1.6 million to a Standard Bank account under Mzwakhe’s control. On 13 February 2018, the transferred funds were identified as proceeds of unlawful activity. Eish! Clearly, this part was not well thought through, illicit proceeds don’t move quietly.
The following day, they had already withdrawn R400 000 in cash before a hold was placed on the remaining funds. If they had known anything about the Financial Intelligence Centre, I’m pretty sure this whole plan would have looked very different. In the end, just over R6 million was recovered.
The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Gqeberha sentenced Mzwakhe to 15 years’ imprisonment for fraud, 6 years for money laundering, and 12 months for contravening the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, with the sentences ordered to run concurrently.
The court noted that Mzwakhe’s actions showed a clear disregard for the law. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) successfully opposed an application for leave to appeal, ensuring the original verdict and sentence stood.
DISCLAIMER! This content is for educational and informational purposes based on publicly available information.
Source: Moonstone and Sunday World