A former Standard Bank account manager was debarred from working in the financial sector after he sent sensitive client information to his personal email account. File Photo: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
A former Standard Bank account manager who had resigned, was debarred from working in the financial sector after he sent sensitive client information to his personal email account.
Monehela Lecheko working with Standard Bank Insurance Brokers (SBIB), a division of the bank, in 2016 and made stellar progress. He was subsequently promoted to account manager in June 2023.
He resigned in May 2024, and while he was serving his 30 days' notice, in June 2024, he used his work email to send himself data base of clients to his personal Gmail address.
He titled the email “Kindergarden” and attached two Excel documents being a ''call log sheet 2017” and a ''client list".
The email was intercepted by the bank's internal security system and redirected to his manager. The manager advised Lecheko at 13:37pm that his work laptop was to be handed in.
A few minutes later, at 13:49pm, Lecheko attempted to send a second email entitled “Baby Formula 2” and attached an Excel document with file name “Baby Formula 2.xlsx” also containing client information.
The second email was also intercepted. His manager directed an employee to collect the work laptop from his home.
He was subsequently placed on garden leave, meaning that he was not required to work during the remainder of his notice period.
He was then notified that he was to attend a post termination Register of Employees Dishonesty System (REDS) enquiry.
In August 2024, the chairperson of the REDS enquiry found Lecheko guilty of the alleged misconduct. It was also noted that the attachments he attempted to send to his private email were related to his entire portfolio since he started working for the bank.
Following the findings, he was served with a notice of potential debarment, and he submitted written reasons why he should not be debarred, and he was unsuccessful.
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He then sought relief at the Financial Service Tribunal (FST) to overturn the bank's decision.
At the tribunal, Lecheko didn't dispute that he tried to send the client information to his personal Gmail.
He argued that the clients didn't belong to Standard Bank as he had sourced clients during his employment and also brought clients with him prior to his employment.
He explained that the attachments comprised dormant client lists. He was trying to get back some of his own clients and planned to provide them with new product offerings which were not available at the bank.
He said he used “Kindergarden” or “Baby Formula” as titles because over the years, when exchanging client information with colleagues for business leads, it was common practice to use those titles.
His attorney also argued that even though Lecheko was dishonest, there were degrees of dishonesty and in this case, there was an attempt at dishonesty because the bank intercepted the emails, a result the list was not sent to his email.
Lastly, it was argued that he stopped working for the bank immediately when the emails were intercepted and the decision by the bank to proceed with the REDS enquiry reflected vindictiveness.
Despite his submissions, the FST maintained that Lecheko's conduct demonstrated deceit and an intention to misappropriate confidential information in his own self-interest contrary to the terms of his employment contract.
It was also held that Lecheko's persistence with far-fetched explanations was evidence that he failed to appreciate the seriousness of his conduct.
"We find no reason to interfere with the respondent’s decision to debar the applicant. In our view, the applicant’s (Lecheko) conduct was manifestly dishonest and demonstrated that the applicant is not fit and proper," read the ruling.
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