Hawks swoop on ‘accomplice’ in R5m church pension fund theft

The Hawks have arrested an alleged  accomplice in the laundering of R5m stolen from the Dutch Reformed Church pension fund.

The directorate’s serious commercial crime investigation team swooped on George Schutte on Wednesday.

Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Siyabulela Vukubi said Schutte, 35, allegedly helped church pension fund administrator Stephanie van der Merwe — now deceased — to steal and launder the money.

“It was discovered that between October 2018 and May 2020, she unlawfully transferred funds in excess of R5m from the bank account of the church to various bank accounts,” said Vukubi.

“These funds constituted proceeds of the unlawful acts of fraud and theft. Through thorough investigation by the Hawks, it was established that the deceased deposited the money into two bank accounts of Mr Schutte.”

Vukubi said Schutte “allowed the deceased to use his bank accounts for the funds to be transferred”.

“It was further revealed that between April 2019 and May 2020, various transactions occurred in Schutte's bank accounts to the amount of R 1.9m,” said Vukubi.

Schutte appeared in the Bellville magistrate's court and was released on R500 bail.

He will be back in court on November 24.

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