Pretoria brewery employee in court for fraud involving more than R60m

A brewery employee, Naayn Hardien, 44, appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday facing fraud charges involving more than R60m.

He was arrested by the Hawks' Serious Corruption Investigation team shortly before his court appearance.

Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Philani Nkwalase said it was alleged that between November 2009 and June 2014 Sedibeng Breweries had suffered a multimillion-rand loss connected to  fraudulent invoices that were paid for stock that was never delivered to its warehouse.

“Hardien was employed by Sedibeng Breweries as the materials planner and had the responsibility to place plastic shrink wrap orders and to receive the goods as ordered on the systems applications and products in data processing system (SAP).

“The revelation of the fraudulent activities surfaced in 2014 when the financial director noticed that the costs of  manufacturing were extremely high. Subsequently an internal review was conducted between May 2014 and June 2014.

“Hardien was allegedly linked to the fraudulent delivery notes as well as processing of information through the SAP system used by the company,” Nkwalase said.

The case against Hardien was postponed to November 27, for legal aid, and he was released on R3,000 bail.

“More arrests are imminent as the investigation continues,” Nkwalase said.

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