Old Mutual fraud suspect to know fate next month

THE sentencing of a former employee of Old Mutual Namibia who has admitted that she defrauded the insurance company of over N$321 000 over a period of more than two years was postponed to June 19 in the Windhoek Regional Court this week.

Magistrate Gert Retief was scheduled to sentence former Old Mutual Namibia employee Abigail Koekemoer (34) on 69 counts of fraud on Tuesday. With Magistrate Retief however not available, Magistrate Ben Myburgh had to postpone the sentencing to June 19.Koekemoer remains free on bail until then.She was granted bail of N$8 000 at her first appearance in court after her arrest on March 16 2005.On February 19 this year, when she made her first appearance in the Windhoek Regional Court, Koekemoer admitted guilt on all 69 counts of fraud on which she was arraigned.She admitted that on 69 occasions from May 10 2002 to July 26 2004, she brought Old Mutual under the impression that accounts of two independent insurance agents were still active, that these people were entitled to commission payments, and that a certain bank account belonged to them.In fact, she further admitted, she knew these people’s accounts with Old Mutual Namibia were dormant and should actually have been closed, as both people had died.The bank account into which she had the money paid in these people’s names in fact belonged to her, Koekemoer also admitted.The fraud that Koekemoer confessed having committed started on a relatively small scale.However, as the acts of fraud remained undetected for more than two years, the amounts of money involved also gradually increased.On the first occasion when the fraud was carried out, on May 10 2002, an amount of N$1 260,39 was paid into Koekemoer’s bank account in the name of the two agents whom she used as a front.On the second occasion that she committed fraud, on May 22 2002, a larger amount of N$5 380,81 was paid into the account.On the third occasion, on May 29 2005, two relatively small amounts of only N$96,19 and N$500 were paid into that account.After this, with the first acts of fraud having gone unnoticed, the amounts involved jumped to thousands of Namibia dollars at a time: two amounts of N$5 977 each on June 26 2002, a higher amount of N$6 630 on July 6 2002, a still higher amount of N$6 830 on July 26 2002, a total of N$21 985,44 through three separate transactions on December 19 2003, and so forth.The highest single amount of money involved in the 69 charges of fraud that Koekemoer admitted was N$7 815,97, which she admitted was fraudulently paid into her bank account on February 27 2004.In all, the fraud snowballed until Koekemoer had defrauded Old Mutual Namibia of N$321 675,55.In her plea explanation, Koekemoer informed the court that she had been employed at Old Mutual Namibia in the period between May 2002 and the end of July 2004 – first as a Group Scheme Secretary and later as a Personal Finance Advisor.At the time that the offences were committed, Koekemoer had been involved in a relationship that was “characterised by severe emotional and physical abuse and her partner placed much pressure on her to provide financially,” clinical psychologist Claire Hearne informed the court in a report that was provided to Magistrate Retief in anticipation of the sentencing.Hearne stated that Koekemoer “initially acted spontaneously, without knowing or considering different alternatives”, and that she only later “became caught in pathologically habitual behaviour”.Hearne suggested that a sentence involving a period of community service or house arrest should be considered rather than imprisonment, which she stated would serve no rehabilitative function and might be “extremely destructive” to Koekemoer.With Magistrate Retief however not available, Magistrate Ben Myburgh had to postpone the sentencing to June 19.Koekemoer remains free on bail until then. She was granted bail of N$8 000 at her first appearance in court after her arrest on March 16 2005.On February 19 this year, when she made her first appearance in the Windhoek Regional Court, Koekemoer admitted guilt on all 69 counts of fraud on which she was arraigned.She admitted that on 69 occasions from May 10 2002 to July 26 2004, she brought Old Mutual under the impression that accounts of two independent insurance agents were still active, that these people were entitled to commission payments, and that a certain bank account belonged to them.In fact, she further admitted, she knew these people’s accounts with Old Mutual Namibia were dormant and should actually have been closed, as both people had died.The bank account into which she had the money paid in these people’s names in fact belonged to her, Koekemoer also admitted.The fraud that Koekemoer confessed having committed started on a relatively small scale.However, as the acts of fraud remained undetected for more than two years, the amounts of money involved also gradually increased.On the first occasion when the fraud was carried out, on May 10 2002, an amount of N$1 260,39 was paid into Koekemoer’s bank account in the name of the two agents whom she used as a front.On the second occasion that she committed fraud, on May 22 2002, a larger amount of N$5 380,81 was paid into the account.On the third occasion, on May 29 2005, two relatively small amounts of only N$96,19 and N$500 were paid into that account.After this, with the first acts of fraud having gone unnoticed, the amounts involved jumped to thousands of Namibia dollars at a time: two amounts of N$5 977 each on June 26 2002, a higher amount of N$6 630 on July 6 2002, a still higher amount of N$6 830 on July 26 2002, a total of N$21 985,44 through three separate transactions on December 19 2003, and so forth.The highest single amount of money involved in the 69 charges of fraud that Koekemoer admitted was N$7 815,97, which she admitted was fraudulently paid into her bank account on February 27 2004.In all, the fraud snowballed until Koekemoer had defrauded Old Mutual Namibia of N$321 675,55.In her plea explanation, Koekemoer informed the court that she had been employed at Old Mutual Namibia in the period between May 2002 and the end of July 2004 – first as a Group Scheme Secretary and later as a Personal Finance Advisor.At the time that the offences were committed, Koekemoer had been involved in a relationship that was “characterised by severe emotional and physical abuse and her partner placed much pressure on her to provide financially,” clinical psychologist Claire Hearne informed the court in a report that was provided to Magistrate Retief in anticipation of the sentencing.Hearne stated that Koekemoer “initially acted spontaneously, without knowing or considering different alternatives”, and that she only later “became caught in pathologically habitual behaviour”.Hearne suggested that a sentence involving a period of community service or house arrest should be considered rather than imprisonment, which she stated would serve no rehabilitative function and might be “extremely destructive” to Koekemoer.