Theft from Air Nam account lands ex-bank official in jail

A FORMER Standard Bank Namibia employee, who used her position with the bank to steal more than N$132 000 out of an account of Air Namibia, received a three-year prison sentence in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday.

After being employed by Standard Bank Namibia for more than 14 years, Penelope Fiona Basson (37) made a monumental error of judgement in early 2007, when she started transferring money from an Air Namibia account with the bank into her own bank account. On Friday, the consequences of the fraud she committed visited her in the form of an effective jail term of three years that she received at the end of her trial in the Windhoek Regional Court.On 29 counts of fraud, to which Basson pleaded guilty on May 12, Magistrate Sarel Jacobs sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment, of which two years were suspended for four years on condition that she is not again convicted of fraud that had been committed during the period of suspension.Basson admitted that between January 23 and May 3 2007, she committed fraud on 29 occasions by transferring money from an Air Namibia account with Standard Bank to her own account.At that stage she was working in the bank’s Credit Card Department.She admitted that she pretended to the bank and Air Namibia that the airline was making refunds to various clients. In fact, she then credited her own account with the amounts taken from the airline’s account.The amounts stolen in this way varied between N$1 000 – which Basson admitted taking on January 23 2007 – and N$10 540.She ended up defrauding the bank and Air Namibia of N$132 785.After the fraud was detected and Basson had been charged, she refunded the bank in full.Her explanation was that she committed the fraud because she was experiencing financial difficulties at the time.Magistrate Jacobs however commented during the sentencing that, taking into account the amounts involved in the fraud, he had his doubts whether ‘financial difficulties’ were the only reason for the fraud.He noted that during January 2007, Basson pocketed N$15 930 as a result of the fraud. The next month, she took a total of N$25 420, the month after that it was N$44 695, and during April 2007 it was N$43 050.The Magistrate said he was sure that Basson was aware of, realised and considered the consequences of the fraud she was committing.He said she had been in a position of trust with the bank. She abused this position to defraud the bank, he remarked.The fact that Basson compensated Standard Bank for its loss after the fraud was detected is a mitigating factor, but that did not mean that it could save her from being sent to prison, the Magistrate indicated. He said the fact that she had compensated the victim of the fraud she had committed should not create an impression that when someone paid back her ill-gotten gains she would not be jailed for crimes like these.Similarly, the fact that Basson is the mother of a five-year-old child could not help her evade a jail term. A dangerous precedent would be set if women with small children would be given only suspended sentences because of the fact that they had children to care for, the Magistrate commented.Basson, who had been free on bail of N$5 000 since July 5 2007, when she was arrested in connection with the case, was represented by defence lawyer Corinna van Wyk. Public Prosecutor Simba Nduna represented the State.werner@namibian.com.na