These activities allegedly helped Brenden Ruth Moshabane, 42, of Boksburg on the East Rand to build an empire, owning a fleet of cars and properties in Gauteng. She faces charges of theft and fraud.

State prosecutor Bongani Chauke told the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday that Moshabane was in charge of MTN's 76 bank accounts and was responsible for making payments to the company's creditors and vendors.

However, between 2011 and this year, Moshabane allegedly created fictitious vendors whose monies she allegedly paid into her bank account at FNB.

Chauke alleged she made 16 online transactions into her account without the two mandatory signatures of her seniors.

Chauke read out an affidavit from the investigating officer who said transactions valued at R23-million were initially picked up by FNB who then alerted the police on March 29.

"MTN deals with substantial amounts of money and it was not easy for them to pick up these transactions. On further consultation with MTN we have learnt that the total loss is about R52-million," he said.

The state said its investigation showed that Moshabane owned five properties, seven vehicles and has shares in various companies.

"She failed to disclose another company she is a director of which recently bought two houses in Pretoria and North Riding worth R2-million. We don't know how many properties she has. Daily we uncover new information."

The investigating officer further told the court that Moshabane did not deserve bail as she was untrustworthy and was vague in answering questions.

He alleged that R90000 was withdrawn from her account while she was in custody and someone [an accomplice] had removed crucial documents from a car after her arrest. The car had been parked overnight at her place of work and the officer had kept its keys.

Defence counsel Piet du Plessis said his client's bank account with Standard Bank with a balance of R1.6-million had been frozen since her arrest.

He said she would not skip the country even though she had relatives in Europe and was willing to pay R100000 bail.

Judgment on the bail application will be heard next week.




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