KZN municipality payroll supervisor jailed for paying ghost workers R3.1m

A former Newcastle municipality payroll supervisor has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars for doling out R3.1m to ghost workers.

The specialised commercial crimes court in Durban sentenced Dedre van Rooyen, 52, on Thursday.

Hawks spokesperson Col Philani Nkwalase said Van Rooyen oversaw the municipality’s day-to-day running of the salaries office. Her responsibility included the payment of salaries from the municipality bank account.

Van Rooyen was arrested in October 2020.

“Van Rooyen received undue payments in excess of her ordinary salary. Further investigation linked her banking details to four additional salary profiles of previous employees,” said Nkwalase.

A Hawks probe unearthed 88 fraudulent salaries were paid between February 2012 and June 2020, which cost the municipality R3.157m.

“Van Rooyen pleaded guilty to all 88 counts of fraud on May 14 2021. She also forfeited her pension to the Newcastle municipality and repaid the balance of the amount in full,” Nkwalase said.

She was handed a 10-year jail sentence, two years of which were suspended for five years “with stringent conditions”.

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