Boksburg woman 'lived the high life after stealing R460-million'

A 43-year-old Boksburg woman has for 13 years lived a life many can only dream of - allegedly thanks to an ingenious scheme in which she managed to pay herself about R460-million.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, swooped on her home on Wednesday and seized millions of rands worth of jewellery and luxury cars and motorcycles.

Hawks spokesman Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu said the woman was employed as an accountant with multinational medical equipment supplier Medtronic, based in Midrand.

She was arrested on Wednesday, and is due to appear in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday on charges of fraud, theft and money-laundering.

Mulamu said the woman allegedly duplicated payments to legitimate clients and service providers, paying money directly into her deceased husband's bank account.

"The Hawks attached the suspect's 11 luxurious vehicles, including three Range Rovers, a Porsche and motorbikes; seven immovable properties with furniture and appliances, and jewellery worth over R12-million, which was emptied from five safes in the house," Mulamu said.

The Times understands that most of the properties are in the same street in Boksburg.

"In the one garage we found dozens of expensive luggage, all empty. They travelled the world," a police officer close to the investigation said.

"It looks like they would wake up one morning and just decide to go to Mauritius and take their toothbrush and face-cloth only. Then they would come back with this grand luggage filled with expensive stuff."

After the woman resigned, the company's new accountant picked up on a name for a client in the internal accounting system that the new person did not recognise, the SABC reported.

After a brief investigation it was found that the woman's surname was the same as that of the account holder, her late husband.

The information was handed to the Hawks in October 2017.

According to Medtronic's website, the groups in the company made about $29-billion (R390-billion at the current exchange rate) in revenue this year.