Finance officers allegedly stole R20m from milling company

Nearly R20 million was allegedly syphoned out of a North West milling company by senior finance officers Reginald Scholtz and Jan van Niekerk in an elaborate scam involving the creation of “ghost and fictitious” transactions. 

Last week, 38-year-old Van Niekerk, the former financial accountant at Botselo Mills, was arrested on 337 counts of fraud and 336 money-laundering charges. He is accused of stealing more than R10.2 million from the company through the creation of 337 bogus transactions to pay himself. 

The payments, according to the charge sheet drafted by state advocate Bongani Chauke, were between January 2017 and July last year. Chauke is the head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) specialised commercial crimes unit in North West.

Van Niekerk’s arrest follows hot on the heels of that in April of 57-year-old Scholtz — Botselo Mills’s former financial manager — who allegedly stole more than R9.1 million from the firm through the creation of 61 transactions that the state alleges the company knew nothing about. 

Scholtz apparently stole the money from 6 January 2017, the date of the first payment, to 18 August 2022, when the last purchase was made. 

The NPA states in its charge sheet that Van Niekerk, as the financial accountant, had authority to transact on Botselo Mills’s Nedbank account, “but within the company’s banking systems”. 

According to a list of transactions compiled by the NPA, the lowest amount Van Niekerk allegedly stole was R420 on 5 January 2017 and he ramped up the amounts as the years went on, culminating in him stealing the highest amount — R725 500 — exactly five years later on 5 January 2022. This was the fourth-last fraudulent transaction Van Niekerk allegedly initiated. 

His most prolific year of theft, the state asserts, was in 2020, when Van Niekerk stole more than R4.9 million, while the least was in 2017 when he stole R33 322.60.

The NPA claims that Van Niekerk was the holder of four Capitec bank accounts, as well as two at First National Bank, including being the holder, director, agent, a beneficial owner “and/or had a working relationship” with three companies — ACC Tax Professionals, Imbewu Ekhula Transport and Imbewu Ekhula Farming — into which he supposedly channelled more than R10.2 million.

The state says Van Niekerk “submitted and/or created forms requiring authorisation and/or approval and/or signatures and/or release of funds for payment by [Botselo Mills] to the companies and/or service providers and/or bank accounts” he owned or had financial interests in. 

“The accused gave out and pretended to the company that the bank accounts [he owned or had financial interests in] were and/or belonged to service providers of the company (Botselo Mills). Some persons and/or service providers and/or alleged account holders did not exist and/or were in fact ghosts and/or were fictitious,” reads the charge sheet. 

“This [Van Niekerk] did whilst knowing that the accounts [paid] were his own personal bank accounts and/or the accounts from which he would derive some benefits, and not those of the companies and/or service providers [working with his employer], and/or were not created for payment reasons.”

The charge sheet adds that Van Niekerk made up reasons and references in order to divert his employer’s funds into his accounts. 

“The act and/or conduct of transferring the [fictitious] amounts into the bank accounts of companies and/or entities [owned by Van Niekerk] constituted a concealment and a disguise of the source of the said funds. The amounts … were and/or formed part of the proceeds of unlawful activities; to wit, fraud and/or theft.”

Van Niekerk’s alleged criminal acts mirrored those supposedly committed by his former colleague Scholtz who, the NPA alleges in the charge sheet against him, also had access to Botselo Mills’s Nedbank account and had authority to transact on the company’s behalf. 

The NPA says Scholtz was the holder of bank accounts at Standard Bank, First National Bank and Absa.

“The accused gave out and pretended to the company that the [Standard Bank, FNB and Absa] bank accounts were and/or belonged to the service providers of [Botselo Mills]. This he did while knowing that the [Standard Bank, FNB and Absa] accounts were his own personal bank accounts and not those of the companies and/or service providers of [Botselo Mills], and were not created for payment reasons,” the charge sheet in Scholtz’s case reads.

The breakdown of payments from the NPA documents suggests that Scholtz became emboldened over the years, and apparently surpassed the 2017 amount in just seven of the 10 transactions in 2019, with those payments totalling R782 839.18.

In 2020, in four of the 18 transactions that year, he allegedly stole R822 278.89, which was more than the money supposedly stolen in 2017 over 13 payments. The last four transactions included the biggest amount of money the state claims was stolen from Botselo Mills — R853 400 on 17 June 2020.

According to Scholtz’s profile on a business and employment online service, the alleged fraudster referred to himself as a result-oriented financial management professional and employed a “participative management style, taking a hands-on approach to deliver best-fit solutions against business requirements”. He claims to instil trust and motivate others to create strong and cohesive teams. 

Cumulatively, Van Niekerk and Scholtz are accused of stealing more than R19.3 million from their former employer during the five years their fraud scheme lasted. 

Scholtz and Van Niekerk are out on bail of R10 000 and R12 000, respectively.

Reacting to Van Niekerk’s arrest, the NPA’s North West regional spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the investigation into the alleged fraudster’s case had been completed, and that the state was “ready to proceed with the pre-trial [conference] in the next court sitting” next month. 

“The director of public prosecutions in the North West, Dr Rachel Makhari, together with the provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, lauded the police for the arrest and commended the prosecution team led by the head of the specialised commercial crimes unit in the North West, advocate Bongani Chauke and the deputy provincial commissioner for crime detection, Major General Dintletse Molefe, for a collaboration that led to the arrest and court appearances of the accused,” Mamothame said.