Viljoenskroon woman gets suspended sentence for R800 000 business fraud

A 45-year-old woman has been handed an eight-year suspended prison sentence after swindling nearly R800 000 from a business in Viljoenskroon, Free State, over several years. Jacolene Hendricks redirected payments into her personal account and inflated prices to pocket the difference. Hendricks was sentenced in the Kroonstad Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 12 March, following her conviction on 75 counts of fraud connected to the financial affairs of the Hansie Muller Besigheidstrust in Viljoenskroon.

According to Warrant Officer Fikiswa Matoti of theSouth African Police Service, the matter came to light after business clients raised the alarm. “Some of the business clients indicated that they had been instructed by the accused to deposit payments for goods purchased into a different bank account,” said Matoti. The irregularities prompted an internal investigation into the trust’s finances.

Matoti confirmed that the findings were serious enough to warrant escalation. “A case docket was registered and later handed over to the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit in Welkom for further investigation,” she said. That investigation exposed the full extent of the scheme.

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Hendricks had been directing creditors to deposit money owed to the business directly into her personal bank account. She also inflated the prices of goods and, after receiving the higher payments, transferred only the legitimate portion to the business account while keeping the surplus for herself. The financial damage to the complainant was substantial.

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