Branch manager of money lending company sentenced for theft
The Lydenburg Regional Court sentenced Marcus Mnisi (31) of Mashishing to eight years imprisonment after he was convicted of 269 counts of theft in the total of over R1million from his employer on Thursday.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) the accused was employed as a branch manager at Barko Financial Services in Lydenburg.
“The evidence presented in court is that from 2015 to 2016, Mnisi created fictitious loans on clients’ names on the Delfin system by using the clients’ fingerprints to activate their profiles. Thereafter, he would make repayments for the fictitious loan using the Naedo system on the same day as if the client had settled the loan and therefore the balance of the particular loan would be zero or settled. He would then take cash equivalent to the same loan he had processed from the cash box for himself.”
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“The owner of the company suffered a huge loss. Investigations were initiated and Mnisi was arrested. The accused testified that he used the money for entertainment, touring with his girlfriend and he also refurbished his parental home,” said the NPA in a statement.
In aggravation of sentence, Advocate Patrick Nkuna relied on the evidence on the audit trail reported by the investigators, the witnesses from the company and the clients, whose details were used by the accused. The state further led testimonies of the investigator from Barko Financial Services who testified that the accused’s conduct has affected two officials whose details were used by the accused to create fictitious loans which resulted in the dismissal of one of the officials from work.
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The accused was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for theft and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm in terms of the Firearms Control Act.
The NPA welcomes the conviction and sentence with the hope that it will serve as a deterrent in the fight against white collar crimes especially in the financial sector.
