Fraudster who posed as advocate to clean out victim’s bank account jailed

A repeated fraudster has been sentenced to 75 years' imprisonment for posing as an advocate of the high court to fraudulently withdraw nearly R1m from his supposed client’s bank account, leaving the victim penniless.

Christian Hendrick Coetzer was found to have done serious reputational damage to Absa Bank when he walked into the Vereeniging branch on October 9 2015 accompanied by a woman.

He misrepresented himself to the bank as an attorney of the high court and told the bank that the woman in his company was Angelia Evangelia Kallinkos.

He told the bank he was legally appointed and granted access by Kallinkos, as the holder of the bank account, to perform transactions from his client’s account, said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane.

“The consultant believed this misrepresentation and granted the required access. Between October 9 and November 7 2015, a sum of R956,900 was transferred from the real Mrs Kallinkos's account to that of the accused.”

The real Angelia Evangelia Kallinkos, as lawful holder of the account, discovered all her money was gone and reported the case.

Sgt Tiyani Hlungwani, who was assigned to investigate the matter, walked into the courtroom of the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court and heard the name of the man he’d been looking for.

Hlungwani heard Coetzer’s name mentioned during a bail application for another matter and the officer arrested the fraudster, Mjonondwane said.

Senior state advocate Tilas Chabalala instructed Hlungwani to bring the docket from Vereeniging and submit it for the consideration of a just sentence as Coetzer was not a first-time offender. He had several previous convictions, including a pending case before the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court for which he was out on R100,000 bail.

Chabalala argued that Absa Bank suffered reputational damage because in the mind of the holder of the targeted account and those close to her, the bank failed to protect her savings.

The court sentenced Coetzer to 75 years' imprisonment on multiple counts of fraud, theft and money laundering for stealing from Kallinkos and misrepresenting the bank. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 20-year imprisonment term.

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