A Vodacom engineer, who is allegedly at the centre of a syndicate that robbed bank clients of R7 million, is out on R15 000 bail.
Sapa reports Mbokodana Khoza, who is accused of fraud worth R1.8 million, was granted bail on Friday in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court. State prosecutor Richard Chabalala is quoted as saying he was one part of a larger group, which had stolen over R7 million.
Khoza will appear in court again on 11 September. His co-accused, Mbusi Bhengu, will have a bail hearing on 11 August.
The scam led to Vodacom implementing additional security measures after Khoza was arrested on the fraud charge. The cellular company has also laid a charge of fraud against the technician.
Vodacom said earlier this month that the staff member fraudulently created temporary dual SIM cards, and then diverted one-time PIN SMSes to these cards, which were then deleted.
Vodacom's forensic division is working with the SA Banking Risk Information Centre and the SA Police Service to investigate the fraud.
According to The Citizen newspaper, R7 million was stolen from clients at banks such as Nedbank, Absa, First National Bank and Standard Bank.
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