Update

GEORGE NEWS - A bookkeeper from George, Gillian Wileman (56), was sentenced to prison in the George Regional Court on 233 counts of fraud on Friday 12 May.

According to a spokesperson for the Hawks, Zinzi Hani, the convicted bookkeeper stole more than R7,6m from Ideal Lighting and Electrical that she worked for from 2016 to 2021.

Her duties included the capturing of bank statement transactions and administering payments to creditors and suppliers. Wileman had access to the preparation of payments needed to be made from the company to various creditors.

"The Hawks investigation successfully proved in court that she diverted payments into her account for personal gain, instead of paying money from the business to the creditors, between 29 January 2016 and 31 December 2020," said Hani.

The investigation revealed that Wileman concealed the movement of the said funds. 

The matter was then reported to the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for further investigation, which led to her being summoned to appear in court on 25 November 2022. 

Wileman was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment of which six years are suspended for five years. She will effectively serve eight years direct imprisonment.

Suzanne van Zyl, the wife of the business-owner, Herman, said that they are glad that the court case is over and that justice has been served. 

"We are satisfied with the sentence. Unfortunately, we cannot recover a cent of what she stole," said Van Zyl.

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