Photo for illustration only. (Photo: Mariska Nanni/Maroela Media)
The commercial crime court in Bellville sentenced a 53-year-old accounts clerk to seven years in prison after she stole more than R13 million from a law firm’s trust account in Stellenbosch.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Alwena Smith was found guilty after entering into a plea and sentence agreement with the state.
“She was found guilty on 171 charges of fraud, 171 charges of interference with data and four charges of money laundering,” says Eric Ntabazalila, regional communications manager of the NGV in the Western Cape.
The court sentenced Smith to 12 years’ direct imprisonment on the 171 counts of fraud, with five years of that suspended for five years on the condition that she is not again convicted of fraud, theft or corruption.
She was also sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on four charges of money laundering, but this sentence was suspended for five years on condition that she is not found guilty on charges of money laundering again.
“The court ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, which leads to seven years in prison,” says Ntabazalila.
According to the NPA, Smith worked as a senior account clerk at the relevant law firm from 2006 to 2018, where she was responsible for managing the trust account’s income and expenses as well as bank transactions.
“Clients deposited money into the firm’s trust account, from which payments were made when work was carried out on a case,” says Ntabazalila.
(Photo: Elisma van der Watt/ Maroela Media)
The investigation found that Smith used her own and a colleague’s internet profiles to create fictitious beneficiaries and make 171 transfers to her personal bank account.
The investigation further showed that 171 illegal checks were withdrawn from different client files and that “between January 2016 and April 2, 2018 she stole a total of R13 267 096”.
According to the NPA, Smith intentionally made misspellings in beneficiaries’ names so that the banking system would not show that the beneficiaries already existed. She also paid back R6.5 million to the trust account in an attempt to cover up her fraud.
Smith also registered a company, Garda TeK (Pty) Ltd., of which she was the sole director and into which some of the stolen money was paid.
Some of the money was also deposited into the bank accounts of her husband and daughter, to whom she told that she had received an inheritance. They were later exonerated after she admitted that they were not aware of her cheating.