Hildegard Steenkamp Convicted of Stealing Over R500 Million From Employer, SA Horrified by Extent of Fraud

• Hildegard Steenkamp, a former accountant from Boksburg, has been convicted of stealing over half a billion rand from her former employer
• The former accountant from Boksburg siphoned over R500 million from Medtronic over 13 years
• South Africans can't believe how the insane level of theft went unnoticed for such a long period

JOHANNESBURG - A former accountant from Boksburg, Hildegard Steenkamp's trial has come to an end and the court has handed down its judgment.

The Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge convicted Steenkamp of stealing R537 million from her former employer over a 13-year period, News24 reported.

Hildegard Steenkamp steals half a billion rand from Medtronic

Steenkamp's financial crime occurred when she was working as an accountant at Midrand-based multinational medical equipment supplier Medtronic.

Read also

Teapots, towels, tea bags: UK in coronation retail boost

The woman siphoned money from her former employer by duplicating payments to real clients and service providers and paying them into her deceased husband's bank account.

Steenkamp used the money to fund her lavish lifestyle and created several businesses to justify how she could afford to live largely.

Hawks investigation leads to Steenkamp's arrest in 2017

The house of cards came tumbling down in December 2017 when a three-month investigation uncovered the extent of Steenkamp's fraud.

The Hawks descended on Steenkamp's luxury Boksburg home and arrested her for fraud, theft and money laundering.

The Hawks seized the spoils of her criminally funded luxury lifestyle, which included 11 luxury vehicles, ranging from a Porsche to multiple Range Rovers.

Seven immovable properties with furniture and appliances were also seized in addition to jewellery worth over R12 million‚ which was emptied from five safes in the house, TimesLIVE reported.

Read also

Luxury Fish River Resort in Eastern Cape stripped bare by looters, millions of rands worth of goods stolen

Steenkamp's case was postponed to 14 and 16 August when she will be sentenced for her crimes

South Africans shocked by extent of Steenkamp's theft

Below are some comments:

@Ngamahle remarked:

"Having an employer who you can steal R500m from and their company not shut down must be something else."

@KamoheloG added:

"In Jerusalema, some know the movie as Gangsters' Paradise, Lucky Kunene says if you steal, you better steal big and hope like hell that you get away with it. There's no doubt about how big she went. It's crazy."

@Bhere18_b asked:

"At what point do you tell yourself that you’ve stolen a little bit too much now? Or you don’t stop till you’re caught?"

Limpopo woman sentenced to 5 years in jail for stealing R1.6m from employer, Mzansi wants a harsher sentence

In another story, Briefly News reported that a Limpopo woman will spend the foreseeable future behind bars for stealing R1.6 million from her employer.

Read also

Prosecutor slapped with 5 years for taking R1.5k bribe and withdrawing drunk driving case, shocking SA

The Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced 35-year-old Annelize Holtzhausen to five years imprisonment on Thursday, 19 April.

This comes after the Polokwane court found Holtzhausen guilty of 185 counts of theft on 29 May 2022, IOL reported.

Source: Briefly News