[ad_1]
Three people convicted of attempting to defraud the Royal Bafokeng Trust Fund of 500 million rand have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each.
Mario Marco, Getty Images
- Three people have been sentenced to 15 years each after attempting to defraud a 500 million rand trust fund.
- They pretended to be signatories and tried to transfer the money to another account.
- A suspicious bank employee alerted the police.
Three people convicted of attempting to defraud the Royal Bafokeng Trust Fund of 500 million rand have been sentenced to 15 years in prison each.
The trust is part of the African community investment firm Royal Bakfokeng Holdings.
“Goci and Sehlapelo were also sentenced to another two years [of] direct incarceration for [the] contravention of Section 18 (1) of the Identification Act. Furthermore, they were declared incapable of possessing a firearm. The sentences will be executed at the same time, “Maluleke added.
Goci, Sehlapelo and Aaron Madanda approached a consultant at an Absa bank in Burgersfort and claimed to be signatories to the trust.
“They presented fraudulent identity documents and asked the bank employee to help them open an account to transfer R500 million from Royal Bafokeng Holdings to the new account,” Maluleke said.
READ HERE | ‘It is not my duty to go around arresting people’ – Ramaphosa
The bank official became suspicious and alerted the authorities and Goci, Sehlapelo and Madanda were arrested.
During the investigation, the police arrested Makalela, who is believed to be the mastermind of the fraud attempt, at her home in Alexandra.
Madanda is serving a jail sentence for unrelated fraud and her trial is ongoing.
