Woman jailed for defrauding former employer to feed gambling addiction

A 37-year-old woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison for defrauding her former employer of approximately R16 million to feed her gambling addiction.  

Cindy Saunders appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday where sentence was handed down.

It is understood the convicted fraudster generated false invoices at her employer RenCorp cc, trading as Nicholson Shipping.

Gambling addiction

The court heard that Saunders was addicted to gambling, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Kara said.

“In her plea, she admitted to having a gambling addiction and said that she decided to defraud her employer and another company SK Boyz (Pty) Ltd, to pay off her gambling debt. To this end, she enlisted the help of her co-accused, Terrance Gonasekharan Raju, and his companies, South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans.”

“Saunders said in her plea that at the time of the commission of the offences, she knew that her actions were fraudulent and solely for her personal financial gain and that of her co-accused,” Kara said.

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Fraud

Kara said Saunders also defrauded S K Boyz by telling them that she needed a business partner to assist her with financing the purchase of shipping containers from South Continent.

“She promised them profits when the containers were sold. She admitted to doing this, with full knowledge that S K Boyz would not be paid back the money.”

Sentencing

The court took into consideration that Saunders had a gambling addiction, Kara said.

“In sentencing Saunders the court took into consideration that she had a gambling addiction and had sought counselling to rectify the problem and improve her life.”  

“For counts 12 to 36 of the fraud, where Nicholson Shipping is the complainant, Saunders was sentenced to six years imprisonment. For counts 37 to 54, she was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, of which three years is suspended for five years,” Kara said.

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