Broker Addy Moolman told a First National Bank employee her loan application would be approved sooner if it stated she was employed by the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL), the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Thursday.
Felicity Smith was testifying in the trial of Moolman and ANCWL president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on 60 charges of fraud and 26 of theft totalling more than R900 000.
They allegedly secured loans for people from Saambou Bank under the pretence that the applicants were ANCWL employees. The theft charges relate to the deduction of premiums from loan applicants’ bank accounts for a funeral policy that allegedly did not exist.
Smith testified that she was in financial difficulty in September 2000. Her bank manager, Dikeledi Seakamela, referred her to Moolman. Seakamela had earlier attended a meeting with Madikizela-Mandela and Saambou about a loan scheme for ANCWL employees.
Moolman completed Smith’s loan application forms, stating that she was a senior administrative clerk at the league. Smith testified that she asked about this, but Moolman said it would result in her loan being processed faster. She said Moolman told her that she had to take out a funeral policy at a yearly premium of R360.
The court had earlier heard that applicants had to move their bank accounts to the FNB branch where Smith worked. Moolman later phoned her, asking her to check which applicants had received their loans. Smith said Moolman asked her to deduct the R360 premiums from those accounts and transfer the money into the account of the Funeral and Legal Advisory Consultancy, of which Madikizela-Mandela was a director.
The trial continues. — Sapa