Susanna and Anna Venter were each found guilty on 62 counts of fraud, while the third sister Lourentia Palland was found guilty on 56 charges.

Susanna and Anna Venter were each found guilty on 62 counts of fraud, while the third sister Lourentia Palland was found guilty on 56 charges. Three sisters who created fraudulent salary advice and bank statements to obtain credit from financial institutions were found guilty by the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
The three created fake salary advice slips and falsified bank statements in order to obtain loans fraudulently, and to purchase a new car. The multiple fraud charges against the three involved about R700 000. The charge sheet, compiled by prosecutor Jannie Knipe, said the saga began when Susanna Venter launched an educational institution named Tourism Awareness, Training and Education (Tate) in Stellenbosch, in 1998. Venter's sisters and friend helped in the business. About three years later, the focus of the business shifted to corporate training, management and skills development, which led to the registration of a close corporation named Brainwave Projects 220, trading as Tate. In 2001, Susanna Venter entered into a loan scheme with Multilend, and the three women, acting in common purpose, created a fictitious human resources development officer to liaise with Multilend. The three women each obtained personal long-terms loans from Multilend, pretending to be Tate staff members, and created false salary advice slips.

The business experienced cash-flow problems, which led the three woman to fraudulently obtain additional short-terms loans from Multilend - not only for themselves but for non-existent staff members as well.

These fraudulent loans formed the basis for the first 10 counts. On counts 11 to 56, the three, now operating as International Hospitality Institute, similarly obtained fraudulent loans from Future Finance. Three additional counts related to credit fraudulently obtained at Cape Consumers. On these charges, the two Venters were found guilty on all three, while Palland was convicted of one only. The Venters alone were also found guilty on two more fraud charges involving loans obtained from Proteafsg and Cash Centre, as well as the purchase of a Nissan Almera at CMN Nissan with the use of false documents. Magistrate Amrith Chabilall postponed the case to March 4 for sentencing.