News / National
Bank teller jailed for theft, collapses after sentencing
20 Mar 2013 at 07:13hrs | Views
A FORMER chief teller with the First Banking Corporation (FBC) was slapped with a five-year jail term last Friday for defrauding Zimpapers of over $30 000 in a well-organised scam dating back to September 8 last year.
The teller, Alfred Madzokere (28) of Hatfield, Harare, fainted as magistrate Lazarus Murendo passed sentence. The court found him guilty of theft of trust property as provided for in Section 113 (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23. Two years of the sentence were, however, suspended on condition that Madzokere pays restitution before June 30.
It was the State case that at the time the offence was committed between August 4 and September 8 last year, Madzokere would handle Zimpapers' transactions during which the media house would deposit the money, while the former teller stamped deposit slips.
During the period, Madzokere received $32 747 in cash deposits.
Occasionally, the operations manager would assist him, using the teller's official stamp on occasions when the teller got busy attending to other clients. The manager had access to the deposit trunk keys.
The court heard this arrangement was unprocedural, but was necessitated by the huge workload as the number of clients increased.
The court also heard that although Madzokere would later post the deposits into the respective clients' accounts, there was no proper handover and takeover process with the operations manager.
Although he (Madzokere) argued that he had no way of knowing whether or not the manager eventually handed over all the money collected in deposits, the court found overwhelming evidence against him.
The resulting discrepancies were discovered by the bank's security manager, Bandirai Ngobson, and the matter was reported to the police, leading to Madzokere's arrest.
The teller, Alfred Madzokere (28) of Hatfield, Harare, fainted as magistrate Lazarus Murendo passed sentence. The court found him guilty of theft of trust property as provided for in Section 113 (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23. Two years of the sentence were, however, suspended on condition that Madzokere pays restitution before June 30.
It was the State case that at the time the offence was committed between August 4 and September 8 last year, Madzokere would handle Zimpapers' transactions during which the media house would deposit the money, while the former teller stamped deposit slips.
During the period, Madzokere received $32 747 in cash deposits.
The court heard this arrangement was unprocedural, but was necessitated by the huge workload as the number of clients increased.
The court also heard that although Madzokere would later post the deposits into the respective clients' accounts, there was no proper handover and takeover process with the operations manager.
Although he (Madzokere) argued that he had no way of knowing whether or not the manager eventually handed over all the money collected in deposits, the court found overwhelming evidence against him.
The resulting discrepancies were discovered by the bank's security manager, Bandirai Ngobson, and the matter was reported to the police, leading to Madzokere's arrest.
Source - newsday
