Former court official sentenced to eight years for fraud and theft
Sarah Maria Masango was found guilty and sentenced to eight years direct imprisonment by the Evander Regional Court on Thursday for fraud and theft.
She was arrested in 2012 after it was found that she defrauded the department R552 640, she was then charged with 174 counts of fraud and theft.
The accused was employed by the Department of Justice and Correctional Development Evander responsible for maintenance payments.
The accused gained access to the system by using the password of another official, diverted funds to relatives as beneficiaries monthly.
In 2012 the court manager noticed that there was a lot of unclaimed money in the maintenance account due to the fact that some of maintenance beneficiaries did not submit bank accounts to receive maintenance money as per the new payment system.
The accused gained access to the money and paid out to her mother, brother and two sisters who were also arrested and the case was withdrawn against them after Maria pleaded guilty as the one who deposited the money into their accounts.
The case docket was referred to the Mpumalanga Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation during May 2012 for investigations.
