Woman (46) convicted of embezzling R5, 1 million
Communications officer of Chatsworth SAPS, Cpt Cheryl Pillay, explained that after two long years of intensive investigations and court proceedings, Maistry was finally brought to justice.
The stellar investigations of a super-sleuth Chatsworth detective resulted in the successful conviction of a 46-year-old woman, who embezzled funds worth over R5, 1 million from a local shoe company she was employed at.
Lucy Maistry was sentenced to six years imprisonment in the Durban Regional Court, after being found guilty of stealing millions from Labora Shoes, where she worked as the human resources manager.
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Communications officer of Chatsworth SAPS, Cpt Cheryl Pillay, explained that after two long years of intensive investigations and court proceedings, Maistry was finally brought to justice.
She is currently serving her sentence in prison. After noticing massive financial losses in three months, directors of the company looked to the police for assistance.
“Det W/O Arthur was assigned as the lead investigator and after consulting with the directors of the company, he had found out that in light of the financial losses, the company was forced to retrench some of its employees to survive, however, the company showed no improvement. While auditing the finances, the financial director established that Maistry had been stealing from the company,” explained Cpt Pillay.
She added that Maistry’s position meant that she had an oversight over the payroll system as well as the payment of wages of four companies.
“With a mammoth task ahead of him, W/O Arthur began engaging with banking institutions where it was evident that large sums of money were deposited into Maistry’s bank account. It was clear that Maistry had embezzled an undisclosed amount of funds,” added Cpt Pillay.
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Station commander of Chatsworth SAPS, Brig Ruth De Villiers, commended Det W/O Arthur for his sterling investigations.
“I am pleased with the sentence meted out by the Department of Justice. This highly-skilled investigator, whose forte is the investigation of economic crimes, attributes his success to commitment, discipline and dedication towards serving the people of South Africa. As members of the service, we may not be able to give back the money that was taken from the victims, but it can be viewed as justice served through her incarceration,” concluded Brig De Villiers.
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