Beauty Kilelo (42) was sentenced by Kimberley Commercial Crimes Court on Friday, 17 February 2023, after she was found guilty for fraud and money laundering.
Between January 2011 and December 2016, ghost workers were created at Sol Plaatjie Municipality in Kimberley.
Various bank accounts which belonged to people not employed by the municipality were used by municipal officials to defraud the municipality.
Investigation done by Hawks Commercial Crime investigation members uncovered that Kilelo had captured and authorised suspicious salary payments. The municipality suffered a loss of R778 864.54 as a result.
The accused was relieved of her duties after an internal investigation.
The accused implicated other municipal officials in her testimony during trial and that resulted in another docket being opened for further investigation.
The accused was ordered to repay the municipality total amount of loss which is R778 864.54. The court sentenced the accused to 16 years of imprisonment wholly suspended for 5 years on condition that the accused is not convicted of fraud and money laundering during the period of suspension.
She was further sentenced to house arrest at the address to be determined by the Commissioner of Correctional Service and to 16 hours per month of community service.
