A South African student who spent more than $63,000 on a shopping spree when her account was credited with $1.1 million instead of $110 has been arrested by the police after been advised to turn herself in.
Sibongile Mani, 28 year student at Walter Sisulu University in Eastern Cape province, South Africa was arrested by the police’s serious commercial crime unit on Tuesday and appeared before a magistrate court on charges of theft. Anelisa Feni, spokeswoman for an elite police unit said.
Mani qualified last year for 1,400-rand ($110) in monthly food allowances from the National Students Financial Aid Scheme, which aids underprivileged students but her account was accidentally credited with $1.1 million in June and she does what most student will do, went on a spending spree of expensive clothing, a smartphone and partying.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme did not realise the error until three months later. They then recovered the remainder of the funds from her bank account and the case has been on since when it actually happened last year.
Sibongile Mani appeared before the court yesterday, the case has been adjourned till July 2nd when she was later released on a warning and ordered to appear again on July 2. 2018. I do believe this case will be dropped as the one before it in Australia
There was a similar case in Australia recently and all charges were dropped, When Christine Jiaxin Lee, a 21-year-old Malaysian engineering student in Sydney University, realised she had been given in error, an unlimited overdraft in July 2014 and then went on a multi-million-dollar spending spree for 11 months. Jiaxin Lee was alleged to have spent $4.6 million on designer goods and maybe some some nice purchases of untraceable stuff in her home country Malaysia since she was a resident regarded as a Malaysian resident at the time of the offence.
In the Australian case, the prosecutors dropped all charges against the chemical engineering student after a similar case involving a man charged with fraud for withdrawing $2.1 million from ATMs was thrown out of court.
Sibongile Mani with a good lawyer will get all charges dropped as well like the Malaysian student in Sydney and the man with a $2.1 million ATM withdrawal.
