Half a Billion Rand Vanishes: Boksburg Woman Hildegard Steenkamp’s 13-Year Embezzlement Stuns South Africa
A Boksburg woman has astonished South Africans by swindling a staggering half a billion Rand.
Hildegard Steenkamp, a junior accountant at Medtronic since 2004, went on a thieving spree that began just six months into her appointment, leaving everyone speechless.
At times, she was pocketing more than R20 million a month, a jaw-dropping feat.
How Boksburg Woman Spent Half a Billion Rand Stolen From Her Employer
You might have assumed that such a colossal theft would’ve transformed her life, but oddly, her situation remains unchanged from before her pilfering days.
The courtroom saga revealed that she squandered the ill-gotten gains on gambling and an extravagant lifestyle, with the Asset Forfeiture Unit seizing some of her possessions. However, no money was recouped, and the total value of the seized assets barely scraped R30 million.
In one wild night of gambling, she carelessly threw away R5 million.
Having confessed to 336 charges tied to the theft of R537 million from her employer, Medtronic (Pty) Ltd, where she worked as an accountant, Steenkamp’s thieving spree spanned 13 years before she called it quits in January 2017.
How She Stole Money From Her Employer Over a 13-Year Period
Her modus operandi involved duplicating payments and funnelling funds into her deceased husband’s bank account, who tragically passed away in December 2016 while on holiday.
The misappropriated funds fueled a series of unsuccessful business ventures.
Her final take was a duo of transactions, each amounting to R6 million, in December 2016.
Despite incurring a loss of nearly R770 million due to Steenkamp’s swindling, Medtronic managed to weather the blow, thanks to its substantial international financial backing.
Medtronic specializes in selling imported medical devices.
