Cop allegedly defrauds colleagues more than E500 000
The officer, whose name remains withheld until she is formerly charged, allegedly stole payslips from colleagues and used them to apply for loans.
MBABANE – A female junior officer is under investigation for allegedly defrauding her colleagues over E500 000. The officer is attached to the Fraud Department in one of the police stations around the country.
The officer, whose name remains withheld until she is formerly charged, allegedly stole payslips from colleagues and used them to apply for loans.
Impeccable sources told Eswatini News that the implicated officer would pocket the loan funds and leave the debt to be paid by the unsuspecting colleague.
Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) Deputy Public Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni confirmed that a police officer was being investigated for defrauding her colleagues.
Mnguni said the matter was reported to the REPS and a swift enquiry was launched to determine the truth around the matter. She said the REPS frowned upon any form of corruption and once the investigation was concluded, actions would be made.
She said she was not in a position to give details or confirm names as yet, since it was still work in progress.
“We are aware of the complaints you are mentioning that were levelled against the officer and I can confirm that an investigation has been commissioned and once they have concluded their findings, a decision will be made and action taken. I cannot say anything for now in fear of messing the investigation except that the matter has been reported and was referred to the Fraud Department, which deals with white collar crimes,” she said.
charges
She said the police officer would be engaged with charges being preferred against her, in case the outcome of the investigations implicate her. Mnguni denied allegations that police were protecting the beleaguered officer. She said fraud cases, by their nature, take a longer period to resolve and the department needed to have tangible evidence before bringing a case to prosecution.
Meanwhile, sources in one of the financial institutions where the female officer allegedly committed the fraud also confirmed the matter.
A source said some of the officer’s victims were failing to cope after the discovery, adding that they wished they could help as an institution, but were bound by law from acting on the case unless warranted to do so by the police.
“Its a painful thing to see happening but we can only wait for the police to give instruction and direction since the matter is currently in their jurisdiction. We can see and we are aware that this act has caused depression to many officers but we cannot do anything.
“We have received such complaints just like in all other institutions but the good thing is that we can trace irregularities and quickly correct them.
Three other institutions were involved in the fraudulent act. All of these institutions reserved comments but pointed out that their banking systems were watertight. “We have a strong vetting system so it could not have been the case but we are looking at it and we cannot comment at the moment,” said one of the money lending institutions.
challenge
They further shared that there were internal policies that governed all financial transactions and where there seemed to be an external challenge, law enforcement was informed.
The money included over E190 000 stolen from a member of Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF), who raised the alarm immediately after discovering that he was paying for a loan he never took.
Though speaking on conditions of anonymity, her victims narrated that the officer devised an elaborate plan where she stole their payslips and diverted the loan payment into her account after making an application.
Where she failed to divert the loan payment, she would approach them and politely request to receive her funds through their accounts. The unsuspecting colleagues would agree to her re
“She is very cunning and most of her victims realise long after she had taken the money that they are actually paying premiums for her loan.”
quests.
Since they rarely checked their detailed bank statements, the victims said they would realise very late that their money was paying a loan applied against their names.
“She is very cunning and most of her victims would realise long after she had taken the money that they are actually paying premiums for her loan,” the source explained.
He added: “She stole my payslip printout and erased my account number to put hers.”
He further mentioned that most of them established through investigations that there was an internet cafe where she processed the forgery. It is understood that the internet cafe also processed the paperwork which she took to the financial institutions to apply for the loans against their identities. It could not be ascertained whether the officer in question was ordered to produce identity documents. Under normal circumstances, the loans are not disbursed or approved without the IDs.
Sources said an inside job should not be ruled out.
“This could be a syndicate and we urge police to ensure no stone is left unturned during their investigations,” the other source who is also a victim of the fraud pleaded with the investigators.
The sources further revealed that some of the junior officers only got to discover that some premiums were being deducted from their accounts when they were supposed to have received the three per cent increment from government.
The sources said they only realised when they saw no change in their net pay and upon a deeper check into their account statements, they discovered the illegal deductions. “After discovering the deductions, we found out we were paying loans and the account was our colleague’s account,” said the source. According to the source, they immediately reported the matter to their superiors, who assured them that they would address the case.
SurpriSed
The concerned sources said they were surprised that the implicated officer was still at work as it appeared nothing was done to her.
They expressed concern over the alleged misconduct of a officer attached to the Fraud Department, a police division set-up specifically to protect people from fraud and forgery.
“We suspect that she was able to find her way either to the system or used an officer who knew the system and its faults to defraud us of our monies,” one of the sources said. “We did not figure out how she was able to insert her banking details so that the loan could be deposited to her.”
It was alleged that upon reporting the matter to the senior officers, a team of investigators was established. The enquiry team was able to also trace the loans and the investigation led to the female officer.
The source also disclosed that the police specialised team of investigators discovered a number of irregularities in the scam to get the fraudulent loans.
It was revealed that the matter was reported to the police in August and since then the female officer had been eluding arrest. Further allegations were made that senior officers were trying to protect the suspected officer and giving her special treatment.
“This is disheartening; she has put a strain on us at the time when we leave through loans to survive the economic hardships. We are all at fault for not checking our salary pay slips because we know it’s there to service debts. Surprisingly, some of our colleagues were being forced to resign for demanding salary adjustment, yet there is someone who steals the very little peanuts we get,” said the source.
When contacted for a comment, the suspected female police officer demanded to know the source of the story and whether her superiors were contacted for a comment.
She said she was not going to give a response before getting all the information pertaining to the source and comment of her bosses at work.
“If you cannot give me the information on who told you this or whether you have informed my bosses yet, I will have to come to you so that you can tell me. I am not aware of anything like that and that is why I want to know who told you this,” she said.
She said she was not threatening the media but wanted to see the reporter so that she could get more information on the matter. She continued to deny any involvement in any wrongdoing or being under any police investigation.