A 43-year-old Port Elizabeth mother was sentenced to an effective 10 years in prison on Monday after being found guilty on a charge of fraud and theft.
Jennifer Ward, a former Rental manager at Remax International Property Group, has two previous convictions for which she received suspended sentences.
During the period of May 2017 and August 2018, Ward made payments in the amount of R484 251.33 from the bank account of Remax to entities she alleged were their creditors.
She then contacted these entities and asked them to refund the money to an account number that she provided.
The numbers Ward provided did not belong to Remax but to Ward herself. Some account numbers were those of her friends whom she then asked to reimburse her in cash.
The State argued that Ward made false entries on the accounting records of Remax and knew that she was not entitled to any of the payments.
Furthermore, Ward was also accused of theft in that she knew that property in the form of electronic fund transfers formed part of the proceeds of her unlawful activities.
Ward was sentenced to 10 years for fraud and five years for theft with the sentences to run concurrently.
