A junior accountant at the giant telco firm MTN allegedly stole $3 million (NGN1.3 billion) from the company accounts to hers by pretending to be paying vendors.
Court documents, obtained by South African news website Sowetan Live, claimed that she carried out the heist over the course of seven years, from December 2010 to April 2017.
The defendant, known as Ruth Moshabane, pleaded not guilty as the prosecutors claimed that she stole an average of $435,000 every year to stay under the radar.
Further details revealed that Moshabane’s strategy was to send money from MTN’s bank accounts to vendors such as Mutual and Federal, and Guardrisk Insurance for services provided. She allegedly controlled 76 of these accounts.
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The trail started in December 2010 with a transfer of $3,500 and $2,500 two days after the first fraudulent transaction. Then, she sent over $6,500 to herself in January 2011 and as her confidence grew, so did the value of the transactions.
Some of the largest transfers she made at once includes a total of $200,000 in September 2015, $115,000 in November 2013, and $35,000 in August 2011.
Ruth Moshabane was caught in April 2017 after Standard Bank reported to MTN that it had noticed some unusual transactions. Likely, the telco launched an internal investigation which turned up her secret.
She was arrested on April 11, 2017 and is faced with 16 counts of fraud. MTN is suing for compensation of the stolen funds along with interest and the accrued legal costs.
According to reports from South Africa, Moshabane had five properties registered in her name and the court would be moving to seize them during the course of the case.
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