SIBANE ACCOUNTANT ACCUSED OF E2.8M FRAUD, HOUSE SEIZED

MBABANE - The State has seized a five-bedroom house belonging to a Sibane Hotel accountant who allegedly defrauded her employer a sum of E2.8 million.

The house is situated on Swazi Nation Land at Mlindazwe, in Ezulwini in the Hhohho Region. The order to seize the house, together with furniture, was issued by High Court Judge Nkosinathi Maseko last Friday. The judge issued the order after the director of public prosecutions (DPP) filed an ex parte (without the accountant’s knowledge) application last week.
The application was filed under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) of 2018 and Crown Counsel Thulani Mamba represented the State. The DPP filed the application to seize Simangele Shongwe’s property because he had suspicions that it was proceeds of crime in that she could not reasonably afford to finance her lifestyle from her salary, especially because she had no other source of income. She earned E6 500 and a gross salary of E8 000 per month.

Shongwe is currently out on bail after being arrested for allegedly defrauding the hotel a sum of E2 839 018.10. She was arrested on February 28, 2019 and the criminal matter is pending.
She allegedly committed the offence by misrepresenting to the hotel by submitting her own bank account held at First National Bank (FNB) as belonging to various creditors and suppliers due for payment by her employer.

Deposited

The money, which the hotel believed to have been paid to its creditors, was actually deposited into Shongwe’s bank account. The Operational Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit in the office of the DPP, Principal Crown Counsel Elsie Matsebula, told the court that the house and furniture were allegedly paid for using money acquired through criminal activities. Shongwe was employed by the hotel as an accountant in 2013 and her duties entailed being a creditor’s clerk, petty cash administrator, debtor’s clerk and a payroll clerk. Matsebula said Shongwe was entrusted with her employer’s finances. An investigation conducted by a team led by Detective Constable Enock Maseko, who is attached to the fraud unit, revealed that Shongwe allegedly started committing the offence in 2016.

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