| 2024/12/09 |
|
Media Statement EASTERN CAPE – Lawrence Warren Scharneck (41) appeared before Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 4 December 2024 for allegations of fraud. Scharneck was released on R5000 bail, he was arrested by the Gqeberha Serous Commercial Crime Investigation on the same day of his arrest. His spouse Shantel Scharneck (41) was arrested as well on 29 November 2024 for the same allegations and appeared in court on the same day where she was also released on R5000 bail. It is alleged that in January 2021 to August 2023 Scharneck’s spouse who is a creditor’s clerk Lithotech company wrote an email to Kolok South Africa where she supplied them with an invalid company order of the items that she wanted. The reports indicated that the aforesaid goods were processed by the supplier and collected by the suspect who is the husband. Further allegations divulged that in some instances the fabricated orders were delivered to their homestead or to the wife’s workplace. After the goods were delivered, the wife had reportedly manually adjusted the invoices as well as company accounting system to match the suppliers recon. Subsequently, further reports exposed that the wife as part of her job description prepare the statements along with fictitious recons deemed to be correct and duly loaded to the system for payments. Therefore, payments were made in various occasions. During auditing the discrepancies were picked up and the matter was referred to the Hawks for probing. The investigations by the Hawks revealed that the accused was not employed by Lithotech nor by Kolok South Africa, however, on various occasions he collected goods that were fraudulently ordered by his wife on behalf of Lithotech with the pretence to deliver it to Kolok South Africa company. Further investigations exposed that the couple allegedly committed a common purpose to defraud the company and intentionally misled Kolok knowing exactly that the items were falsely ordered, which led to Lithotech being prejudiced cash to the value of more than R3.5 million. Through intensive investigation led to the arrest of Scharneck. He made his short court appearance before the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 4 December 2024 where he was released on R5000 bail. The matter was remanded to 12 December 2024 for legal representation and to join his spouse. Ends
Enquiries:
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/SAPoliceService |
|
|
