[imagesource:needpix]
Prishne Khan didn’t play her cards right when she hopped into her freezer to avoid being arrested by police, having squandered more than R3 million on gambling.
The poor 37-year-old gambling addict and former finance manager was handed a 10-year prison sentence after she was found guilty on 63 counts of fraud.
Khan worked as a bookkeeper at the Northern Cricket Union between June 2015 and January 2017, where instead of paying service providers, she altered invoices to reflect the details of her relatives, misappropriating R350,000 over six weeks, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said via IOL.
NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana says when Khan was questioned about her actions, she resigned and became the finance manager at Customer Loyalty Consultant (PT) Ltd. where she worked for six months and had access to bank accounts.
“During her employment, Khan again manipulated customer banking details to funnel payments into accounts controlled by her husband and cousin. Despite her ability to process payments, she could not execute them immediately due to a token needed, which was the responsibility of another employee,” said Mahanjana.
After leaving the company, another employee then gave her a token, which allowed her to siphon more than R3 million into her account between September 2017 and March 2018.
The bank alerted the company about the fraudulent activity and Khan was arrested, which is when she hid in a freezer to evade capture. The humiliating moment is doing the rounds in the news.
When she appeared in court in May 2018, she pleaded guilty. She claimed that she needed the money and used the money to buy her husband a car.
“However, evidence in the pre-sentence report revealed that she had used the stolen funds for gambling,” Mahanjana said.
At the time of sentencing, Khan sought leniency from the court, claiming she was responsible for her children, aged six, 12 and 15. She added that she was also ill. However, the Magistrate said that Khan showed no remorse.
“Prosecutor advocate Pulane Segalo argued that Khan had committed serious offences, emphasising that she had betrayed the trust of her employers for personal gain. She urged the court to impose a sentence of direct imprisonment to reflect the gravity of her actions. The matter was postponed to March 3 for the judgment,” Mahanjana said.
As court proceedings continued, the matter was postponed for judgment and sentencing on the 3rd of March 2023. Khan absconded and a warrant of arrest was issued. The NPA’s Mahanjana says she was finally located last week, over a year since she absconded. She says Khan was living at a new house in Nigel and was found hiding in a freezer.
In the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, Khan was sentenced to 10 years of direct imprisonment for 63 counts of fraud that resulted in losses exceeding R3 million.
In addition to this, she received a further four-year sentence for theft amounting to R350,000, with the court ordering that these sentences run concurrently, resulting in an effective sentence of 10 years in prison.
[source:iol]
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