Cape Town woman stole R3.7 million from her employer using fake invoices with her own banking details

Louise Baynes, who stole R3.7 million from her employer, Rubicon Lighting, has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Baynes was employed as a bookkeeper in the finance department of Province Lighting, trading as Rubicon Lighting.

The company specialised in manufacturing and distributing commercial lighting products in South Africa.

Her responsibilities included capturing supplier invoices on the payment system and loading beneficiary information.

Baynes also approved payments by Rubicon Lighting in their payment system before they were authorised by management.

Between January 2017 and February 2023, she submitted fictitious and altered invoices purportedly issued by legitimate suppliers and authorised the associated payments.

Investigations conducted by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team revealed that she had manipulated the invoices.

She substituted the banking details of the official suppliers with those of bank accounts that belonged to her or were under her control.

She falsely represented these accounts as belonging to legitimate suppliers entitled to receive payment.

Acting on these misrepresentations, Rubicon Lighting made numerous payments into the fraudulent accounts.

These payments were neither due nor payable to the accused, resulting in substantial financial prejudice to the company.

The investigation established that the unlawful payments were made solely because of Baynes’ fraudulent conduct and deliberate misrepresentations.

On 30 September 2026, the Parow Regional Court found her guilty of 228 counts of fraud, resulting in losses of R3.663 million.

Baynes was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, of which two years are suspended for a period of five years.

This suspension is contingent on her not being convicted of fraud or theft committed during the suspension period.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation welcomed the sentencing, saying that justice was done.

30-year-old woman stole R1 million from her employer

Baynes’s case is similar to that of Amy Van Heerden, who was sentenced to six years and six months’ direct imprisonment for fraud and money laundering.

Van Heerden was arrested on Friday, 27 February 2026, by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team.

This arrest followed an investigation into the allegations of fraud and money laundering against her. She was released on R10,000 bail.

Van Heerden was an employee of Nashua Kathu, where she changed her employer’s banking details to her personal account number.

Her actions caused Nashua to suffer a loss of over R1 million, as business clients deposited funds due to the business into her account.

On 25 September 2026, the Kathu Magistrates’ Court found Van Heerden guilty on the charges of fraud and money laundering.

On the counts of fraud, she was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, of which two years were suspended for a period of five years.

On the count of money laundering, she was sentenced to two years’ direct imprisonment.

She was also found guilty of theft and sentenced to six months’ direct imprisonment, and will ultimately serve six years and six months’ direct imprisonment.