A bookkeeper who allegedly stole thousands of rands from the Jewish Community Centre will plead guilty to a charge of theft.
|||Cape Town - A bookkeeper who allegedly stole thousands of rands from the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) will plead guilty to a charge of theft later this month, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court heard on Friday.
Bookkeeper Ashley Fataar, 47, from Wynberg in Cape Town, made his first appearance in the court before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
His second appearance would be on May 27.
Legal Aid attorney Hayley Lawrence told the court she had consulted with Fataar, and he would plead guilty at his next appearance.
She and prosecutor Denver Combrink would address the court on an appropriate sentence after Fataar had pleaded, she said.
According to the charge sheet, three different organisations were involved in the matter Ä a charity known as the United Jewish Campaign (UJC), the JCC, and the Bnoth (SUBS: CORRECT) Zion Association (BZA).
The BZA sponsored the UJC’s monthly rental, which was paid each month to Fataar as the JCC’s bookkeeper. It was Fataar’s duty to deposit the money into the JCC’s bank account each month.
According to the charge sheet, the UJC asked Fataar in April last year what had happened to the month's rental. Fataar said he had not yet banked the money, and it was in the safe in his office. When the safe was opened, there was no money. Fataar then said it was in his desk drawer, but it was not there either.
An investigation found that rentals amounting to R144 000, between February 2009 and April 2012, had not been banked.
According to the charge sheet, the UJC is a non-profit organisation that raises funds for charitable organisations in the Cape Town Jewish community. - Sapa