By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Commercial Crime Court sitting in Palm Ridge has granted former KPMG bursary specialist Fidelis Moema bail of R50 000.
Moema appeared alongside two co-accused Trevor Machimana and Lebohang Sigubudu.
This comes after the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation arrested Moema on charges of theft, fraud and money laundering of R16.5 million meant for bursary recipients.
The fraudulent transactions in question were made between 2021 and 2022.
Moema has worked for KPMG as a bursary specialist since August 31 2018.
His flashy life was posted all over his social media accounts – sports cars, French champagne, and holiday trips to Santorini, Greece.
The question on everyone’s lips was whether all of this was through criminal proceedings.
The 32-year-old was fired from KPMG in November 2022 after a disciplinary process found he was non-compliant with the firm’s policies.
Moema is currently employed by Nedbank.
It, however, emerged that Moema did not inform his current employers that he was fired by KPMG.
State prosecutor Valencia Dube told the court that Nedbank filed an affidavit, which revealed that Moema stated that he resigned from KPMG.
Nedbank confirmed that Moema was placed on precautionary suspension.
The affidavit also mentioned that his contract was scheduled to end on 30 April as he was employed on a fixed-term basis.