Bookkeeper in dock for alleged hand in partnership fraud
A PORT Elizabeth bookkeeper appeared in court yesterday for allegedly assisting her boss to defraud his former business partner.
IT company owner Charles Rhodes and bookkeeper Alethea Botha face an additional charge of reckless trading in that they incurred debts through their alleged fraudulent activities.
Rhodes and Botha appeared in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court yesterday and the case was postponed to April 19 for them to get legal representation.
Rhodes and Grant Shepheard had been equal partners in Matton Technologies CC and Alphatech East Cape CC, which did IT jobs, the installation and upgrading of software and computer repairs.
Rhodes did the financial functions of both businesses, Shepheard the technical duties and Botha was in charge of the books.
While both men’s personal bank accounts were linked to the business accounts, Rhodes kept blank cheques, signed by Shepheard, in his office in case of an emergency. Botha dealt with the petty cash. All banking notifications were sent to the business’s cellphone, kept by Rhodes. But in August 2006, Rhodes and Shepheard decided to part ways.
Rhodes was to take ownership of Matton Technologies, with Shepheard in charge of Alphatech.
It was only then that Shepheard and his wife, Marbi, discovered that Alphatech was in debt.
It had an overdraft of R50 000 and payment to suppliers, the SA Revenue Service, VAT and PAYE were allegedly outstanding.
It is further revealed that between July 2000 and August 2006, Rhodes and Botha allegedly:
ý Paid for personal expenditure of more than R200 000 with the income from the companies;
ý Set off debtors and creditors against each other;
ý Transferred R284 138 from Matton’s bank account onto Rhodes’s personal credit card; ý Stole R11 150 petty cash; and ý Made several other purchases for R222 414 that could not be matched to sales invoices.
The state also alleges that before the firms’ split was finalised, Rhodes had started a new business with R13 308 from Alphatech.