A repeated fraudster has been sentenced to 75 years’ imprisonment for posing as an advocate of the high court to fraudulently withdraw nearly R1m from his supposed client’s bank account, leaving the victim penniless.
Christian Hendrick Coetzer was found to have done serious reputational damage to Absa Bank when he walked into the Vereeniging branch on October 9 2015 accompanied by a woman.
He misrepresented himself to the bank as an attorney of the high court and told the bank that the woman in his company was Angelia Evangelia Kallinkos.
He told the bank he was legally appointed and granted access by Kallinkos, as the holder of the bank account, to perform transactions from his client’s account, said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane.
“The consultant believed this misrepresentation and granted the required access. Between October 9 and November 7 2015, a sum of R956,900 was transferred from the real Mrs Kallinkos’s account to that of the accused.”
The real Angelia Evangelia Kallinkos, as lawful holder of the account, discovered all her money was gone and reported the case.