Former Stretford Post Office manager in court for corruption

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A former Stretford post office manager appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday.

Sepheka Stephen Masooa, 54, is facing over eighty counts of theft and fraud amounting to over R2.2 million.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) systems linked to the South African Post Office (SAPO), were manipulated resulting in payments to ghost recipients, Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha confirmed.

According to Cpt Ramovha, fictitious accounting entries were made on the Webripost system reflecting payments to beneficiaries.

He further revealed that internal audit uncovered that such payments were inflated and could not be substantiated by valid documentation or supportive recipients bio-files.

“The fraudulent activities were committed from around the beginning of 2020 lasting for just over a year leading to a case being opened at Evaton police station in August 2022.

“It was then transferred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation which has resulted in the arrest of Masooa on Wednesday, at his home in the Vaal Rand,” he explained.

Fraudulent activities conducted outside Post office hours

Ramovha stated that further scrutiny and analysis has laid bare the fact that Masooa performed the majority of these fraudulent activities either in the wee hours or very late in the evenings which is outside of operating hours for the post office.

Meanwhile, Major General Ebrahim Kadwa said they are pleased with the developments in this case.

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“The greedy individuals who use unscrupulous ways to defraud state entities, specifically, SASSA in this case – an entity meant to cater for the less fortunate and the impoverished members of society better think again.

“It is clear the accused did not work alone in this regard. We will stop at nothing to ensure that the rest of the suspects also have their day in court soon”.

The case was postponed to Friday, June 21, for appointment of a legal representative.