A funeral parlour employee has been granted R30,000 bail in the Pretoria magistrate’s court after allegedly fraudulently receiving more than R500,000 from the parlour’s clients.
It is alleged that Ponatsego Anna Ngwenya, 45, a general manager at Royal Funerals in Soshanguve, Tshwane, enticed clients into taking out funeral policies, and then placed the funds into her own account.
“In some instances, she allegedly collected cash payments from clients, claiming the company’s payment system was offline,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana on Tuesday.
“The alleged fraud came to light when the company identified that several client policies had lapsed,” explained Mahanjana.
“Upon contacting the affected clients to address the lapses, the company was informed that payments had been made directly to Ngwenya. The matter was subsequently reported to the police, and following an investigation Ngwenya was arrested on April 15,” said Mahanjana.
During her court appearance the state did not oppose bail as she was not considered a flight risk. The case has been postponed to June 9.
“The NPA remains committed to prosecuting fraud and protecting the public from financial exploitation,” said Mahanjana.
Sowetan
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