[imagesource: Nicholson Shipping]

A woman from Bluff in Durban was charged with fraud totalling about R16 million and sentenced to nine years imprisonment yesterday.

The 37-year-old had an atypical Valentine’s Day, admitting to struggling with a gambling addiction and using two companies to pay off her gambling debt.

Cindy Saunders worked as an export controller at RenCorp CC, trading as Nicholson Shipping, and pleaded guilty to 45 counts of fraud in the Commercial Crime Court in Durban after stealing money from her employer and another company, SK Boyz (Pty) Ltd.

Image: Screengrab / Carte Blanche

She also brought someone else into the fold, Terrance Gonasekharan Raju – along with his companies, South Continent Logistics and Troy Trans – who has been charged as her co-accused.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Cindy and her co-accused defrauded SK Boyz by telling them that she needed a business partner to assist with financing the purchase of shipping containers from South Continent.

She admitted to generating false invoices from her former employer for containers sold to another company as part of the fraudulent scheme.

The duo apparently promised SK Boyz profits when the containers were sold:

“Saunders said in her plea that at the time of the commission of the offences, she knew that her actions were fraudulent and solely for her personal financial gain and that of her co-accused.”

The sentencing had taken into account her gambling addiction and the fact that she had tried to sort it out with professional intervention.

Still, she was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Hopefully, she doesn’t get into blackjack or another game of chance while behind bars.

[source:iol]