Farmer swindled out of money kept under mattress
AN elderly Kirkwood farmer had his nest egg stolen – allegedly by his banker – after he entrusted the woman with R400 000 that he had kept tucked underneath his mattress.
Andries Renken, 83, discovered later that an additional R420 000 had been withdrawn from his First National Bank account without his permission.
Leonie Stiemie, 45, an administrator at the FNB’s Kirkwood branch at the time, pleaded not guilty in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court to two counts of theft totalling R820 000.
She is the sister-in-law of Port Elizabeth bookkeeper and comedian Tertius Stiemie, who is serving a 10-year jail term for the theft of nearly R1-million.
Testifying yesterday, FNB business development manager Werner Stapelberg said Renken had trusted Stiemie and believed his money would be safe at the bank.
“Whenever Mr Renken went to the bank, he would only deal with Leonie,” Stapelberg told the court.
In mid-2011, Stiemie convinced Renken to place the R400 000 he kept at his home in a safety deposit box at the bank.
The box, known as a “deed box”, would then be locked and stored in the bank’s treasury vault for safekeeping.
Stapelberg said it was the bank’s procedure for a rental agreement to be completed and signed.
Two sets of keys for the box were then issued to the client.
“This ensures that only the client controls access to the contents of the deed box,” he said.
Stiemie was one of two custodians of the vault’s keys. To access the vault, both custodians had to be present.
When Renken asked Stiemie about his deed box in August 2014, she told him she had invested half of the money on his behalf.
Stiemie was transferred from the Kirkwood branch shortly afterwards.
Then, in February 2015, Renken visited the bank to ask about his safety deposit box, but it could not be traced.
“There was no record that a deed box was ever issued to Mr Renken,” Stapelberg said.
“In fact, it emerged that Mr Renken never signed a contract and keys to the box were never issued to him.”
That evening, Stiemie contacted Renken and arranged to visit him at his home to discuss the matter.
She allegedly admitted to taking the money and promised to have a contract drafted for the repayment of the money in monthly instalments of R500. Renken declined the offer. Reading from an acknowledgment of debt document dated February 18 2015, Stapelberg said Stiemie had committed to repaying the R400 000 over a period of five years.
The document contained only her signature.
“Mr Renken said he had received some payments but did not sign the document because ... it would have taken too long to get his money back,” Stapelberg said.
Stiemie ultimately repaid just more than R21 000.
“He was also worried about his other bank affairs ... and began conducting his own investigation.”
It was discovered that on December 22 2012 an amount of R420 000 was withdrawn from Renken’s account without his knowledge.
The trial was postponed to May 2.