PH
A former administration clerk at the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has pleaded guilty to 448 counts of fraud and forgery to the tune of over R640 000.
Stephanie Reeners, 48, was this week convicted in the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
She committed the crimes between February 2012 and November 2017.
Reeners, who worked at the municipality’s Central Information Centre (CIC), and also volunteered as a CIC assistant, admitted to accepting direct payments from clients and filing fake payment receipts to the tax invoices.
“In so doing, [she] gave the impression to the building inspectorate that the cashiers had received the payments. She never handed over the money to the treasury division, but instead took it for personal use,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani.
“Reeners also pleaded guilty to three counts of forgery, which she committed in November 2017. She used the information on her supervisor’s salary advice to create three false salary advices, which she created under her name,” she added.
Reeners will be sentenced on 4 May.
