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A former Absa Bank customer services clerk has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for fraud amounting to more than R1.1 million.
Thirty-three-year-old Siphozi Katyu was sentenced in the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
The National Prosecuting Authority said she was stationed at the bank’s Kwadwesi branch when she changed the banking details of an account belonging to a client.
She also issued a debit card on the client’s portfolio and linked it to two accounts that did not belong to the client. Katyu also created two variable payment instructions to three accounts at another bank.
“Between 13 November 2015 and 23 November 2015, the debit card was used at five ATMs in Port Elizabeth to transfer R1 131 220 million from the money market account to the Flexi-save account created by Katyu,” according to NPA spokesperson, Anelisa Ngcakani.
“The ABSA client was defrauded of a total of R1 164 057-20 between November and December 2015,” she said.
Senior state prosecutor, Advocate Leigh-Anne Pillay-Selahle, said Katyu “faced an overwhelming case with a paper trail that pointed to her as well as video footage that clearly showed her involvement. She had no choice but to plead guilty.”
