An accountant convicted of defrauding a company at Swakopmund of N$4.48 million was sent to prison for an effective period of 12 years at the end of her trial in the High Court yesterday.

Tulihaleni Nghihalwa (38) broke and abused the trust that her former employer placed in her when it appointed her as an accountant, acting judge Petrus Unengu said before sentencing her and three co-accused in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility.

Unengu convicted Nghihalwa on 75 charges of fraud and 24 counts of money laundering in April this year.

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He found that she defrauded the company Komatsu Namibia, where she was employed at its Swakopmund office, between January 2014 and May 2016 by creating false invoices that resulted in the company making payments totalling N$4.48 million.

The payments were made to bank accounts of Nghihalwa and two co-accused: Johanna Jona (32), who is her sister, and Tulihafeni Nghihalwa (28), who is her brother.

Payments were also made from the accounts of the three accused to an account of a fourth accused, Pauline Ganes (53), who was found guilty on 24 charges of money laundering in connection with the payments.

Jona was convicted on 10 counts of money laundering and Tulihafeni was found guilty on 14 charges of money laundering.

Unengu sentenced Nghihalwa, who is a mother of two children, to 15 years' imprisonment on the fraud charges. Three years of that sentence are suspended for a period of five years on condition that she is not convicted of fraud, theft or corruption committed during the period of suspension and for which a prison term without an option of a fine is imposed, Unengu ordered.

He also sentenced her to five years' imprisonment on nine counts of money laundering, and ordered that the sentence on those charges should run concurrently with the sentence imposed on the fraud charges.

On the same nine charges of money laundering, Jona and Tulihafeni were sentenced to a five-year prison term each.

Unengu further sentenced Nghihalwa, Jona and Tulihafeni each to four years' imprisonment on 13 other counts of money laundering, and ordered that those sentences are suspended for a period of five years on condition that they are not convicted of money laundering committed during the period of suspension.

All four of the accused were sentenced to pay a fine of N$20 000 or serve a period of two years' imprisonment on an additional charge of money laundering, while Ganes was sentenced to pay a fine of N$10 000 or serve a one-year prison term on a count of money laundering on which she was convicted alone.

Unengu remarked that all four of the accused, who denied guilt during their trial, did not show remorse about the crimes of which they were convicted.

He also recounted that Nghihalwa claimed during the trial that two of her colleagues at Komatsu Namibia hatched a conspiracy to unlawfully obtain money from the company to pay to tax officials in Windhoek to clear value-added tax debt of the company.

However, that allegation was denied by one of her former colleagues when he testified as a state witness during the trial.

Defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji represented the four accused.

The prosecution was represented by state advocate Erick Moyo.