Admin clerk convicted on 223 counts of fraud, gets 9 years in jail

A former administrative clerk has been sentenced to nine years in jail after she was found guilty of 223 counts of fraud, worth over R3 million.

Brigette Wait, 36, was sentenced by the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase said Wait was found guilty on 24 February.

Nkwalase said Wait was employed by TAG Yachts SA in St Francis Bay in an administrative position between August 2014 and August 2017.

“Among her duties she performed was to capture payments and prepare invoices for her employer’s clients. The Hawks investigation revealed that she fraudulently replaced banking details of creditors with her own, resulting in large amounts of money being paid into her bank account.

“This only surfaced after she had left the TAG Yachts on her own accord and was employed by the Bull clothing company in Jeffrey’s Bay, where she also defrauded her new employer of approximately R300 000,” said Nkwalase.

Wait was arrested on 6 November 2019 and subsequently granted R2 000 bail, which was extended until her sentencing.

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