Jail for creditors' clerk who stole R4m from her employer

The Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday sentenced a former creditors' clerk to two years' imprisonment after she was found guilty of 132 counts of fraud amounting to more than R4m.

According to the way she was sentenced, Debbie Buitendag, 40, will be considered for placement on correctional supervision after serving four months of her sentence. This was because Buitendag is a primary caregiver of her children.

Buitendag was employed by Amka Products (Pty) Ltd and her duties included paying utilities bills and making purchases.  

“Buitendag changed the banking details of Holistics Remedies (Pty) Ltd, a company that used to do business with Amka Products (Pty) Ltd, replacing them with her own Standard Bank account details,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said in a statement.

Mahanjana said from May 2017 to February 2021, Buitendag made payments of more than R4m to the company that had her banking details. 

“This was discovered after the auditors picked up the unlawful financial transactions during the company audit.”

Buitendag was arrested in March last year and was released on R500 bail.

“In court, Buitendag pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against her.”

She told the court that she used the money to buy her husband a luxury car and household appliances.

Mohammed Osman, an accounting officer of Amka Products, testified that had the company not done an audit of the books, the company might not have picked up the crime because of the planning Buitendag did in committing the offence. 

Through her legal representative, Buitendag asked the court to impose a sentence of correctional supervision and/or periodic imprisonment because she was the primary caregiver for her two children.

However, prosecutor Leletu Jobela-Ramahlala asked the court to impose a sentence of eight years direct imprisonment, to send a strong message that fraud of this nature affects businesses.

The court said if Buitendag was not a primary caregiver of her children, she would have been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment because of the seriousness of the offence.

However, the court said, long-term imprisonment would affect the children. 

“Therefore, a sentence of two years' imprisonment in terms of section 276 (1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act will have the least impact on the children,” Mahanjana said.

Any person sentenced under this section will serve at least one sixth of their sentence before they may be considered for placement under correctional supervision.

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