Woman gets 5 years in jail for stealing over R1.6 million from her employer

The Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday sentenced 35-year-old Annelize Holtzhausen to five years direct imprisonment for theft, after she was found guilty of stealing around R1.6 million from her employer.

Hawks spokesperson in Limpopo, Captain Matimba Maluleke said Holtzhausen, who was employed as a financial administration manager, siphoned money by creating fictitious claims and transferring money from her employer’s bank account into her personal bank account, and also into her husband’s bank account.

“Between January 28, 2019 and October 24, 2019, the accused was employed as a financial administration manager at Zandspruit Homeowners Association NPC situated in Hoedspruit. Some of her responsibilities as a manager were to pay the service providers for services rendered for the company,” Maluleke said.

“Instead of paying the service providers, the accused (Holtzhausen) created fictitious claims and transferred the money from the company’s bank account into her personal bank account as if she was paying the service providers. Some of the stolen money was transferred into her husband’s bank account,” he said.

The Hawks said Holtzhausen’s fraudulent activities were discovered by the company auditors who opened a case of fraud.

The case was investigated by the Polokwane-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit.

“After conducting a thorough investigation, the accused was arrested at her home in Hoedspruit on February 24, 2021 and later released on R5 000 bail. The company suffered a loss of over R1.6 million.

“On May 29, 2022, the accused was found guilty on 185 counts of theft and her case was postponed to a later stage (Thursday) for sentencing,” said Maluleke.

-IOL

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