Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court magistrate Amrith Chabillal said Mqonci’s role amounted to a “crime of greed, in which he had grabbed what was not due to him”.<\/p>\n
He jailed Mqonci for three years under legislation allowing his release into corrective supervision — involving house arrest — after serving six months.<\/p>\n
The court earlier heard that the victim, Izak Lintvelt, received an e-mail two years ago, supposedly from a London solicitor who introduced himself as Barrister Tom Hickman.<\/p>\n
According to the e-mail, Lintvelt was the only living relative of Randolf Lintvelt, who died in October 1989, and whose estate executor was Hickman.<\/p>\n
It informed Lintvelt that as the sole beneficiary, he could claim from the estate, which was worth US13,8 million.<\/p>\n
However, in order to claim against the estate, he first had to pay R789,300 into the solicitor’s bank account for legal and consultation fees, documentation and revenue charges, which he did.<\/p>\n
The two Nigerian men, named “Lucky” and “Pasta”, persuaded Mqonci to allow them to deposit this money into his bank account.<\/p>\n
Mqonci was to withdraw the money for them, and keep R180,000 for himself.<\/p>\n
Chabillal said only the prosecutor could explain why Mqonci was not charged with fraud, in addition to aiding and abetting.<\/p>\n
Mqonci’s role had been pivotal, as without it the scam could not have succeeded, the magistrate said.<\/p>\n
He said Lintvelt was defrauded out of an astronomical amount, and that the amount Mqonci received was “huge for a bank teller earning a salary”.<\/p>\n