A 38-year-old man, facing 50 counts of fraud, is set to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

The accused, who cannot be named until he has appeared, is accused of defrauding retail and wholesale group, Massmart, out of R3 million in one of his schemes.

South African Police Services' Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said the man was arrested by police in KwaNdengezi.

“The suspect’s arrest comes after a complainant was laid by his previous employer,” Mogale said.

“It was reported that the suspect was employed as an accounts payable clerk for Massmart but he fraudulently reallocated funds of unpaid invoices together with his two accomplices who then directed the final payments to various bank accounts.”

She said during the accused’s crime spree, he enticed a service provider to invoice Massmart and they would split the proceeds.

Mogale said the retailer suffered a loss of over R3 million, and the suspect took 60%.

Investigations continue.

In February last year, Massmart flagged an annual loss of up to R1.6 billion due to store damage and lower trading income as a knock on effect from the July unrest in 2021.

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Accounts clerk accused of defrauding Massmart of R3 million to appear in Durban court