Senior bank employee sentenced for defrauding her employer for millions of rands

SENIOR BANK EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING HER EMPLOYER FOR MILLIONS OF RANDS

The Cape Town Regional Court has sentenced a senior bank employee to effective15 years of direct imprisonment after defrauding her employer of millions of rands and blaming her actions on a dating scam or ‘419’ scam, in which she was duped into transferring monies to bank accounts to assist ‘the boyfriend’ in his business venture. Darlene Harrison (49) was sentenced to 15 years of direct imprisonment following her conviction on 16 counts of fraud, amounting to over R5,2 million. The court sentenced her to 15 years of direct imprisonment for counts 1–12 but suspended five years of that sentence for five years, on the condition that she is not convicted of any crime of which dishonesty is an element, committed during the period of suspension. For counts 13-16, she was sentenced to another 15 years of direct imprisonment, but the court ordered the sentence imposed on counts 1-12 to run concurrently with the latter sentence resulting in an effective year of imprisonment.  

Harrison was employed at Nedbank as an administrator in the Operations Centre and Investments Management and her responsibilities included capturing, releasing, and processing investment funds on instructions of clients who held investment savings accounts with the bank. Between 26 May 2015 and 02 November 2015, she fraudulently processed and released funds from investment accounts to external third-party bank accounts of people or beneficiaries who did not hold investment savings accounts with the bank. These transactions were real-time transactions and were payable immediately.  

On 02 November 2015, she processed two consecutive transactions of R1, 2million. This immediately raised suspicion with the bank’s fraud department. A senior member of the branch where she worked was asked to review the transactions. An investigation that followed revealed that several other fraudulent transactions had occurred between 26 May 2015 and 02 November 2015. An extensive internal Nedbank investigation, which involved interviewing several staff members who worked hand in hand with the accused, further revealed that she was the one who had committed the fraud by transferring investment monies into third-party external bank accounts of people or persons who did not hold investment monies with Nedbank and who were not entitled to the monies.

Adv Andy Heyns told the court that during an interview with the bank’s investigators, the accused made several admissions including admitting that she processed the fraudulent transactions and processed fraudulent documents to support those transactions. In the process, she used her colleagues to approve these fraudulent documents, whilst knowing that they were forged. She admitted that these transactions were processed to these accounts for the benefit of a person who, at the time, she believed to be her boyfriend and from whom she would ultimately also benefit. However, during the trial, Harrison pleaded not guilty to all counts. Adv Heyns called several witnesses, who included her colleagues and the bank’s fraud investigators, as she made no formal admissions and challenged the state to prove its case. She further challenged the confession she made to Nedbank fraud investigators. A trial within a trial was held wherein the court decided that the confession made to Nedbank fraud investigators was admissible.   

She did not testify in her defense or mitigation of sentence and in determining her guilt, the court considered all the oral evidence presented and in addition accepted the confession made by the accused in the form of a statement in her handwriting and recorded on video to Nedbank fraud investigators. She was convicted of all counts of fraud on 20 February 2024.

Welcoming the sentence, Adv Heyns remarked that although the financial loss was to Nedbank, it did not mean it was a victimless crime. Nedbank suffered a potential loss of R5, 2m and an actual loss of R2, 7m. The bank was able to stop the two transactions of R1, 2 million after it was processed, but before it could be transferred.   

Throughout the trial and at the sentencing stage the accused blamed her colleagues for the fraud, and this impacted them as was displayed during their testimony. They felt that they were taken advantage of as the accused used them in the process to commit fraud. They have worked with her for many years and rightfully trusted her. As a result of her actions. some of them retired immediately. Her actions were selfish and callous. It is still unclear what the motive was for the fraud, except that the accused confession refers to a dating scam or “419” scam in which she was duped into transferring monies to these bank accounts to assist “the boyfriend” in his business venture. 

The Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Nicolette Bell congratulated Adv Heyns and Warrant Officer, Myeki for the work well done which resulted in such an applaudable sentence. She believes the sentence indicates the state’s seriousness in dealing with forms of corruption and that it will send out a deterrent message.

Kind regards,

Eric Ntabazalila
National Prosecuting Authority
Regional Communications Manager
Western Cape
Tel: (021) 487 7308Mobile: 073 062 1222
Email: entabazalila@npa.gov.za