By Staff Reporter
QWAQWA – The Commercial Crimes Court has found 58-year old Mareli Vogel guilty of 1116 counts of theft amounting to R2.5 million rand, in its sitting in Sasolburg on Thursday last week. The convict is to be sentenced at a later date.
Vogel was arrested in September 2021 after a case was opened against her at Sasolburg SAPS in January 2020, and charged for theft of money stolen from a company she was working for.
The owner of the business was notified by ABSA bank on December 24 2019 after a large amount of cash was withdrawn from his business account and he had no knowledge of such a transaction.
An internal investigation was conducted by the business owner, where it was discovered that Vogel, who was the financial officer and the only person having access to the business online banking at the time, fraudulently transferred money from the business account to her personal account between 2014 and 2020 to an estimated value of R2 500 000.
A case was reported and referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Bethlehem for further probe. An intense investigation by the team led to the successful conviction of Vogel who remained in custody since her arrest. She is due to appear in the same court for sentencing on June 01 2023.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks, Major General Mokgadi Bokaba applauded the sterling work well done by the investigation and prosecution team.
