A Bellville man was busted for allegedly stealing money from a pension fund for priests.
George Schutte, 35, made his first appearance in court on charges of theft and money laundering after allegedly receiving the funds stolen from the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa in Bellville.
Hawks spokesperson Siyabulela Vukubi explains that the Serious Commercial Crime Investigations team arrested Schutte after it was found that millions of rands paid to a pension fund of the church ended up in his bank account.
“It is reported that the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa based in Bellville were mandated to administer the priest’s pension funds,” Vukubi said.
“Stephanie van der Merwe [who is now dead] was employed by the church as the Pension Funds Administrator.
“It was discovered that between October 2018 and May 2020, she unlawfully transferred funds in excess of R5m from the bank account of the church to various bank accounts. These funds constituted proceeds of the unlawful acts of fraud and theft.”
Vukubi says the Hawks discovered that Van der Merwe deposited the money to two bank accounts of Schutte.
“He allowed the deceased to use his bank accounts in order for the funds to be transferred into his bank accounts. It was further revealed that between April 2019 and May 2020, various transactions occurred in Schutte’s bank accounts to the amount of R 1 955 100.”
Schutte appeared in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and was granted R5 000 bail.
The case was postponed to November 24.