10 YEARS DIRECT IMPRISONMENT FOR FRAUDSTER

02 OCTOBER 2025

10 YEARS DIRECT IMPRISONMENT FOR FRAUDSTER

Vinola Naidoo (41) has been sentenced to an effective 10-year imprisonment by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after she pleaded guilty (in terms of Section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1997), to fraud valued at approximately R4.8 million and, money laundering. The complainant, Mohammed Hafzal Razak is the owner of Channel Construction (PTY) LTD, a company located in Bayhead, Durban. Naidoo was employed by the company from 2016, first as an Assistant Finance Manager and later as a Finance Manager.

Between August 2016 and August 2019, she created fraudulent payment packs/interim audit reports and sent these to Razak for his approval. He approved them, believing that the payments were for legitimate service providers of the company. Further, Naidoo altered the payment beneficiary details on the company’s system to reflect her own banking details, and the payments went into her personal bank account. This caused the company to suffer the loss of over R4.8 million.

Following Naidoo’s resignation in 2020, Razak requested an investigation into the company’s financial records, and the offences were discovered. In finalising this matter, Razak provided an affidavit saying that he approved of the Section 105A plea and sentence agreement. This matter was successfully prosecuted by Adv. Joel Kisten.

The NPA will continue to prosecute matters of this nature vigorously. By working together with the DPCI and other stakeholders, we will ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Issued by:

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara

Regional Spokesperson

DPP KZN

0716700229