OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 3.45pm
THE Office for Serious Economic Offences in investigating high-level bank fraud that sees millions of rands siphoned off the bank by employees.
City Bank staff are suspected of having defrauded the institute of millions of rand using a scheme that takes advantage of public holidays in South Africa that are not celebrated elsewhere. OSEO director Jan Swanepoel, SC, at the weekend confirmed he is investigating the allegations.
He said employee theft from banks is growing. The latest ploy is to transfer millions to an offshore account just before a public holiday in South Africa using a colleague’s computer. The next day the deal goes through because the host country is not on holiday. Banks in South Africa find out only the day after huge amounts have been siphoned off and put in the accounts of friends or accomplices. ”The two parties share the amounts fraudulently transferred in this way,” says Swanepoel.
The probe has just started and so details must still be clarified and finalised. ”I can only say it involves millions of rand.”
Swanepoel says this is not the first ”holiday fraud” brought to his attention. Bankfin was robbed of R80-million the same way.
”We could term this computer crime, which is in the same league as white collar crime,” says Swanepoel. — Reuters