A KZN couple has been ordered to repay R862 000, which was deposited into its accounts because of a FNB app ‘malfunction’. KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) Judge Trevor Gorven – in a concurring judgment – said the story proffered by Sicelo and Nikita Khopho that they had returned the money, in cash, to a bank manager who had since died was ‘highly improbable’.

Business Day reports the matter came before three judges on appeal after an acting judge absolved the pair of any wrongdoing and ruled that the bank had no legal claim against them.

Gorven said Sicelo had operated both his and Nikita’s FNB bank accounts, making use of the bank’s app. FNB claimed that when certain customers transferred money from one account to another, the payments were ‘duplicated’ – with the additional amounts coming from the bank’s own account.

The bank sued, alleging ‘unjustified enrichment’.

The trial judge accepted Sicelo’s evidence as being credible and ruled that there had been no ‘unlawful enrichment’ because the money had been repaid.

This ruling was wrong, Gorven said. ‘There are several inherent improbabilities in Khopo’s version. No prudent bank manager would have taken cash from a client without giving a receipt.’

Gorven commented on the fact that Sicelo had only raised this version when he stepped into the witness box, knowing that the manager had since died.

He ordered that the couple repay the amounts, plus interest, and pay the bank’s legal costs.

Full Business Day report