A Cape Town accountant has been sentenced to 15 years in direct imprisonment after stealing more than R17.35 million from the travel company that employed her. Cassandra Candice Labuschagne, 42, was convicted on 134 counts of theft and money laundering after the losses of R17 352 337 occurred from January 2019 to June 2024, according to the South African Police Service. Police say Labuschagne created a fictitious platform on the company’s banking website, giving her backdoor access to its banking system. She then registered her own company and routed payments to it, transfer by transfer, over more than five and a half years. The discrepancy was eventually picked up by forensic investigators during company financial audits. Once a case was opened, it was assigned to Detective Sergeant Arno Julian Cupido of the Western Cape Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, who obtained subpoenas for bank statements from 19 accounts used in the scheme. Labuschagne was arrested on 17 September 2025, with bail opposed. She entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state and was sentenced in the Cape Town Regional Court. She will begin serving her 15-year term immediately, with time already spent in custody from September 2025 counting towards the sentence. She was also declared unfit to possess a firearm under the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000.