FNB E2.8M FRAUD SUSPECT: DEBTS FORCED ME TO DO IT

MANZINI- The First National Bank (FNB) employee alleged to have stolen E2.8 million belonging to the financial  institution revealed that he committed the offence because he was swimming in debt.

The accused, Thulani Nkambule (30), who surrendered to the police on Tuesday afternoon, made a confession yesterday before acting Magistrate Innocent Mahlalela. Nkambule, who was due for a remand hearing after he had been charged, is alleged to have opted for a confession instead.
The accused will be remanded today at the Matsapha Circuit Court.

Nkambule arrived in court before 9am accompanied by plain-clothes police officers from the Fraud Unit. He was immediately taken to one of the court clerk’s offices, which has been turned into temporary chambers where he waited for the magistrate.
During the confession, the accused revealed that before the commission of the offence, he allegedly ran a car dealership business on the side and sold import vehicles to members of the public.

Accumulating

Nkambule said due to accumulating debts, he would be tempted to use the money he received from his customers who were interested in purchasing vehicles from him.

“I would use the money they gave me for my issues or debts and when the time came for me to deliver (the car), I would fail to do so. As the debts accumulated, I became too stressed and contemplated a lot of things.

My two friends and I then came up with a plan to commit the offence and since I was employed by a bank, I was the only one who could steal my employer’s money and come up with a plan to divert the money to different bank accounts, some in South Africa,” Nkambule said.

He added that the money was deposited in amounts ranging from E70 000 to E200 000 to his friend’s accounts. Nkambule also confirmed that the total amount of money he allegedly stole from the bank was E2.8 million and after allegedly committing the offence, he managed to sort out most of the debts he had before escaping to Mozambique.

“Before we left, we bought a car, an Altezza sedan, which we used to cross through the Mhlumeni Border to Maputo where we lived a lavish lifestyle, renting expensive guest houses, drinking and dining in lavish restaurants until we ran out of funds,” Nkambule is said to have revealed.
Still narrating events of the theft incident, Nkambule revealed that while in Mozambique, things got bad financially and they eventually decided to sell the vehicle to Mozambique nationals for quick cash.

“At the time, I knew I was a wanted man as I was communicating with other people back home. Accounts were frozen and reality struck, I started getting depressed and knew that I needed to return home and do everything right by first handing myself over to the police,” Nkambule stated.

Returned

The accused, who allegedly committed the fraud offence in December 2018, returned to the country a few days ago after allegedly spending time in Mozambique, Matola.

Well placed sources revealed that he allegedly informed officers that he had decided to surrender himself to the police after a hard life in that country, where he ended up cashless.

It was gathered that the accused was once arrested while in Mozambique and detained after he was nabbed driving a vehicle without valid documentation.
His attorney said Nkambule allegedly contacted him on his cellphone, last week Friday, where he revealed his side of the story and requested that he hand him over to the police.

Allegations are that Nkambule informed a team of police questioning him yesterday that he did not have a lot of money while in Mozambique, but about E400 000, which immediately got finished as he allegedly lived a flashy lifestyle.

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