Pascalinah Kabi
A NATIONAL University of Lesotho (NUL) employee, Phillip Tefo Majara, on Tuesday appeared before the Maseru Magistrate’s Court on charges of defrauding his employer of M364 000.
Mr Majara was granted M1000 bail. He will next appear in court on 20 August 2020.
According to the state, Majara defrauded his employer of money totaling M365 558 by falsifying records to indicate that students had paid their fees when they had not.
Evidence presented in court by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) showed that Majara was one of the three officers working in the accounts department at IEMS campus.
His duties included ensuring that students have paid for services. He was tasked with blocking students who had not paid up from accessing services and unblocking them once they had settled their debts.
The DCEO accused Mr Majara defrauding the NUL by wrongfully unblocking and issuing certificates to students who were in arrears or never paid their fees.
The anti-graft body said this resulted in financial loss by the university. It alleges that Majara intentionally abused his position. It therefore wants Maseru Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Murenzi to find Majara guilty of money laundering.
“For the purposes of performing the above specified duties the accused and his colleagues were each given unique usernames and unique passwords, known only to the user,” the charge sheet states.
“The accused was personally and individually responsible for the anonymity and security of his password.
“…The accused through his username and password, falsified information entered into the NUL’s student accounts section by wrongfully unblocking those students who had outstanding balances with the university and further issuing those student with receipts and or a stamp on their registration forms indicating that they (students) no longer owed the university, when in fact they did,” the charge sheet further states.
