Extradited woman to admit guilt on 13 fraud charges

A woman accused of defrauding a school in Windhoek of close to N$3.4 million intends to admit guilt on 13 counts of fraud when her trial starts.

This is indicated in a pretrial document that a lawyer representing fraud accused Maria Coetzee has filed at the Windhoek High Court.

Coetzee (52), who was extradited from South Africa to Namibia near the end of August last year, is charged with 18 counts of fraud, alternatively theft, and one count of money laundering.

During an appearance before judge Dinnah Usiku in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility yesterday, Coetzee was informed that her trial is scheduled to start on 12 May.

The state is alleging that Coetzee defrauded Windhoek International School, where she was employed as a financial manager, from March to October 2018 by paying more than N$2.8 million from a bank account of the school to three bank accounts in her own name.

It is also alleged that Coetzee tried to transfer a total amount of about N$3.38 million from the school’s account to her own accounts, but six of the transactions she carried out were ultimately declined. She successfully transferred N$2.8 million to her accounts, the state is alleging.

A pretrial document defence lawyer Janita von Wielligh has filed at the court stated that Coetzee intends to admit guilt on 13 of the fraud charges she is facing. She will deny guilt on five of the counts and also on the charge of money laundering.

According to Coetzee, she had a gambling addiction when she committed the fraud, Von Wielligh also stated in the document.

The charges on which Coetzee plans to plead guilty deal with eight successful transfers of money from an account of Windhoek International School to two accounts of Coetzee. A total amount of about N$1.9 million was transferred in those eight transactions.

Coetzee will also admit guilt on five charges involving transfers of funds that were declined, Von Wielligh stated. Those unsuccessful transfers involved a total amount of about N$77 300.

Von Wielligh also informed the court and the prosecution that Coetzee is denying that one of the three bank accounts to which money was transferred from the school’s account was hers.

Coetzee was free on bail in an amount of N$10 000 when she failed to appear in the Windhoek High Court for a pretrial hearing in May 2020.

The court was subsequently informed that she had fled to South Africa.

She was arrested in South Africa in 2023, and in March last year a court in Cape Town ruled that she could be extradited to Namibia to stand trial.

Coetzee has been held in custody since her return to Namibia on 29 August last year.

Deputy prosecutor general Tangeni Iitula represented the state during her court appearance yesterday.