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A woman has pleaded guilty to fraud.
- A 63-year-old Eastern Cape woman pleaded guilty to more than 900 counts of fraud.
- Estelle Burgess, who worked as a secretary for a creditor, fraudulently substituted the bank details of the creditors and suppliers for her own.
- He had access to nine accounts at four different banks and stole funds destined for creditors and suppliers.
A 63-year-old woman pleaded guilty to more than 900 counts of fraud, which, in more than a decade, resulted in the diversion of more than R13 million from the Eastern Cape Training Center (ECT) in Port Elizabeth.
Estelle Burgess appeared in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday, where she pleaded guilty to 972 counts of fraud.
According to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), while working at the ECT as an employee of a creditor between November 2004 and September 2014, Burgess stole R13.4 million.
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His duties at ECT included capturing payments owed to vendors or creditors and submitting captured payment lists for authorization and payment.
He also assisted the financial manager of the company in making payments to creditors through an online payment system.
“Only the two had access to ECT’s banking system and she, among other tasks, created spreadsheets that included the bank details of the creditors and the amounts owed,” said NPA spokeswoman Anelisa Ngcakani.
“Burgess presented these documents to the financial manager, who would then authorize the payments.”
Burgess fraudulently substituted his own creditor and vendor bank details and had access to nine accounts at four different banks, some of which were in his name.
“As a result, R13 460 236.05 was credited to his nine bank accounts.”
Burgess was arrested in January 2019.
The state’s attorney, defender Ulrike De Klerk, accepted the statement as agreed with the charge sheet and police file.
The matter against Burgess was postponed until May 6 for correctional supervision and probation officer reports for sentencing.
