Former Total employees accused of defrauding company of R2m get bail

A Total garage in Newtown Johannesburg. Image: Dumisani Dube.

A Total garage in Newtown Johannesburg. Image: Dumisani Dube.

Published Aug 10, 2022

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Durban - Four former employees of Total Energies South Africa have been released on R1 000 bail after they were arrested on suspicion of defrauding the company’s rewards programme of R2 million.

The four accused, Thabo Regomoditswe, 37, Mothapo Tshepo, 38, Radebe Lesego, 42 and Ncobo Zandani, 45, appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Gauteng on Friday.

They face charges of fraud and theft, Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said.

According to Ramovha, the four accused obtained and used unauthorised rewards cards, resulting in a loss of R2m to the company.

They worked in the human resources department of the petroleum company at the time of the incident.

Total picked up the financial irregularity during its internal forensic audit report and reported the matter to the police.

A docket was opened up in October 2021, Ramovha confirmed and was under investigation until last Friday, when the four accused suspects were arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team.

They appeared in court the same day of their arrest, he said.

“In a period of three years, from 2017, whilst the group was under the employ of Total Energies serving under the Human Resource Department. They allegedly obtained unauthorised company rewards cards and used them for personal use, which resulted in the company suffering a loss of approximately R2 million.

“They have all been granted R1000 bail each pending their next court appearance on 09 September 2022,” Ramovha said.

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