Dedication and perseverance paid off for the members of Serious Commercial Crime Investigation based in Bellville when two accused Silindilizwe Ntini (45) and Lwazi Madondo (35) were sentenced for fraud, money laundering and contravention of Electronic Communication and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.
On 30 June 2023 the two accused appeared in Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for sentencing after they were found guilty in December 2022. The pair was involved in bank card cloning scams with their co-accused Arthur Qedinda Dube who is currently serving an eight-year sentence for the same charges from 2019. All the accused were linked to various fraudulent transactions around Cape Town malls between 2017 and 2018.
The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team worked around the clock in proving that all the three accused were actually working together in these scams until December 2022 when the two were also found guilty.
Silindilizwe Ntini was found guilty on five counts of fraud, three counts of money laundering and fifteen contraventions of Electronic Communication and Transaction Act. Lwazi Madondo was found guilty on seven counts of fraud, three counts of money laundering and twenty seven contraventions of Electronic Communication and Transaction Act.
The sentence was handed down on them on 30 June 2023 where Silindilizwe was sentenced to five years imprisonment on all charges and Lwazi was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on all charges.
The Provincial Head of DPCI in the Western Cape, Major General Makgato applauded the members for this achievement as people suffer a lot from these kinds of scams.
Source: South African Police Service