Three of four men accused of embezzling funds from a Mpumalanga municipality appeared in the Secunda Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, the Hawks said.<\/p>\n
The three men were released on R15,000 bail each, with all four men expected to appear in the same court again on May 21, said Captain Paul Ramaloko.<\/p>\n
Charles Mabe, Bonga Sithole, and Sikhakhane Sibeko were arrested on March 25.<\/p>\n
The fourth man, Sihle Mabuya, a municipal IT technician, is already out on bail of R15,000 after appearing in court on March 26.<\/p>\n
The group allegedly used passwords to access municipal accounts and transfer money to their personal accounts.<\/p>\n
“They managed to each withdraw R2.6 million and were about to withdraw another R39 million when they were arrested.”<\/p>\n
They allegedly installed a device into Secunda municipality computers which monitored passwords used by the chief financial officer for transactions.<\/p>\n
“The group allegedly used the passwords to access the municipal accounts and transfer money to their personal accounts,” said Ramaloko last month.<\/p>\n
A senior bank official reportedly alerted authorities to the suspicious transactions. The National Intelligence Agency then started investigations.<\/p>\n
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