Standard Bank Employee Arrested for Stealing R940,000 From Dead Person

• A woman who worked for Standard Bank reactivated a dead person's bank account while the family was dealing with the estate
• She then forged beneficiaries linked to the deceased person and split the money into different bank accounts she opened
• The courts sentenced her to eight years imprisonment for her crime, and South Africans slammed her

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered police investigations and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

NELSPRUIT, MPUMALANGA – The Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court sentenced a former Standard Bank employee from Tonga in Mpumalanga for robbing a dead person.

Woman steals money from dead person

IOL reported that the woman worked as an administrator at Standard Bank when she committed the theft. The account she stole from belonged to a deceased person. Their family was still processing the estate claim when the woman reopened the deceased's account.

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She then created multiple accounts linked to the dead person's beneficiaries and deposited the R940,000 into the bank account. The bank noticed the transaction and opened a case, which was transferred to the Hawks. The court sentenced her to eight years imprisonment for theft and attempted theft. Five years were suspended on the condition she does not steal again.

South Africans discuss the case

Netizens on Facebook gave various opinions on the case and the court's judgement.

Jacques Tellis said:

"This is not fair. Government must nationalise banks and take all savings from the people."

Aaron Motabogi said:

"Crime doesn't pay, but unfortunately, big criminals of the ANC are sitting at home after stealing millions of rands from poor people, and nothing happened to them."

Nare Mokobane challenged Aaron's statements.

"Stealing from people and quoting government corruption excuses does not change that she is a convicted thief. The sentence is well-served."

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Rneilwe Mmage Kgodisho said:

"When is the rand manipulation gang getting arrested?"

Vasuthavan Govender said:

"Unfortunately, this is symptomatic of what is happening in our country."

Craig Schwartz said:

"Government officials steal billions from the living poor, but nothing happens to them."

Hildegard Steenkamp sentenced for stealing millions from employees

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that Hildegard Steenkamp was sentenced to 50 years for stealing from her employee, Medtronic.

Steenkamp siphoned R530 million from her employer and funded a lavish lifestyle. She was convicted of 300 fraud charges.

Source: Briefly News