A fourth suspect believed to be the mastermind behind the cyber heist that saw R42 million being stolen from Postbank, will again appear in the North Gauteng High Court on 22 July.
Kabelo Kekana is the fourth suspect arrested for the heist, after his three accomplices were sentenced in February last year. Boy Thekiso was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, while David Moorosi Motsoane and Teboho Masoleng were sentenced to 15 years each.
According to a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, Bulelwa Makeke, Kekana allegedly involved the assistance of a Postbank employee, Thekiso, to plant a key-logging device on a computer on the Postbank network. Once the login details were obtained, the syndicate was able to clone a terminal of a teller in Rustenburg to create a virtual branch of Postbank.
"The syndicate proceeded to deposit over R42 million into 103 accounts previously opened with false documentation," explains Makeke. "The daily withdrawal limit was raised to R500 000 and the money subsequently withdrawn from ATMs nationwide. An amount of over R30 million was withdrawn before the crime was detected and a hold placed on the remainder of the money."
Kekana's application for bail was denied and he remains in police custody.
Growing problem
The Postbank cyber heist is one of a number of cases where technology has been used to defraud government entities. Minister of justice and constitutional development, Jeff Radebe, over the weekend named and shamed 42 people who had been convicted, or are awaiting trial on charges of fraud and corruption.
"The fight against corruption remains one of the major priorities of government because in both the private and public sectors, corruption has a detrimental effect on government's effort to deliver effective services to the people," said Radebe.
The Department of Communications committed itself last year to reviewing the systems at Postbank to avoid repeat incidents. ITWeb was, however, unable to get an update from the department on progress made so far, despite several attempts.
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