South African student who blew $1.3 million mistakenly deposited in her bank account, charged to court

Remember the South African student who made headlines in September last year after $1.3 million was mistakenly deposited into her bank account in error by the company that hands out student funding and instead of making inquiry, she went ahead to squandered $61,250 in 73 days in a spending spree with her friends. Now she has been arrested and taken to court.

Following the discovery, Sibongile Mani who spent the money on clothes, partying and a new phone said she was “fearing for her life” at the time and regrets using the money.

She has appeared in court on a charge of theft.

Sibongile Mani, a 28-year-old accountancy student at Walter Sisulu University, was arrested by the police’s serious commercial crime unit after she was asked to hand herself in.

She qualified last year for $110 a month in food allowances from the government’s National Students Financial Aid Scheme, which helps underprivileged students.

However, she was mistakenly transferred $1.1m in June and instead of reporting to the relevant authority, she went on a spending spree, using about $61,000 to party and to buy expensive clothes.

After the scheme detected the blunder three months later, it recovered the remainder of the money from her bank account.

According to BBC reports, Mani was not asked to plead during her court appearance on Tuesday.

She was released and ordered to appear again on 2 July.