Seven in court for allegedly defrauding Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of R19m

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Seven members of a criminal syndicate who allegedly defrauded Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of R19.7m appeared in the Commercial Crimes court on Monday.

An eighth accused, Sipho Msomi, has already pleaded guilty and was jailed for 15 years.

The state alleges that in 2009 they installed software on a municipal computer to record the keystrokes, thereby gaining access to the municipality's bank account.

Its further alleged that one of the accused, Kholeka Ngqondi, who was the acting head of the staff section at the time, was instrumental in the purchasing of the software and recruitment of other syndicate members.

Two other accused, Mduduzi Mkhize and Lungisa Kosi, will be back in court on Tuesday for a bail application.

The seven face charges of contravening the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act and Fraud.

Over R18m of the stolen money has been recovered and authorities are still trying to trace R600 000.

The case was postponed until the 15th April.

Meanwhile, four people made a separate appearance for allegedly defrauding the Koukamma Muncipality of R1.4m in a similar manner.

Two of the accused, Lungisa Kosi and Nonhlanhla Mazibuko, are also linked to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality case.

The state alleges that syndicate members also allegedly used computer software to record the keystrokes, thus gaining access to the Koukamma Municipality's bank account.

This allowed them to make unauthorized payments to sixteen different beneficiary accounts.

The four will also be back on court again on the 15th April.