JOHANNESBURG - The 14 men and women accused of fraud amounting to R157-million have been granted bail of varying amounts.
The group’s illicit activity is believed to have emerged from accounts held at banking giant Nedbank.
Nicolette de Villiers is said to be the mastermind of the multi-million rand plot.
As a forensic investigator at Nedbank, De Villiers is alleged to have approved the movement of money from suspense accounts at the financial institution into accounts of friends and business entities.
During the bail application it emerged that, despite her specialised position, De Villiers holds only a matric certificate.
The 37-year-old also went into business with another former Nedbank employee, Keitumetse Mathimbi.
That relationship yielded total payments worth R90-million to Mathimbi.
Mathimbi's enterprise loaned money to people, using the Nedbank account of another accused, Priscilla Segametsi Songwane, to clear payments.
The case has been postponed to January next year.