Forensics Audits and Dreaming

By Helgard Petrus - Coetser

Helgard Petrus Coetser, born into a European family living in South Africa, grew up in an idyllic home: His mom was a homemaker, his father was an accountant, and he had three siblings.

In this memoir, he recalls his childhood and how he marched up the accounting ranks, working on a number of fascinating cases as a forensic auditor.

After finishing his articles at PWC Helgard worked for ten years as a forensic auditor at Absa Bank, Anglo American and KPMG. He worked for he worked for a government agency for nineteen years, joining in 2001 as a criminal investigator. Having never even applied for a job there, it is almost as if he was destined to work there.

One of his career highlights involved looking into an international money laundering scheme, which ended with the culprits pleading guilty. The scheme involved moving millions every month. All the stolen money was recovered.

The author also participated in a successful investigation into a international crime syndicate operating in South Africa and numerous other cases.

Join the author as he shares an insider’s look at what it’s like to be a forensic auditor working on important cases.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664260269

Helgard Petrus - Coetser

Helgard Petrus Coetser, a native of South Africa, traces his ancestry to Europe. He lives in Pretoria with his wife. He earned degrees in accounting and passed the certified fraud examiner test administered by Texas. He has spent three years at Rhema Bible School. During 2013, having attended weekend lectures for two years, Helgard joined the institute of commercial forensic practitioners.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-6025-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6026-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022904158

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/1/2022

CONTENTS

The Beginning

Recipe—My Dream

The Story

Petrus Pty. Limited

The Syndicate

THE BEGINNING

I was born in Africa, the son to a father whose ancestors came from Germany and my dearest mother, Elizabeth Petronella Maria Harding, whose family came from France. Thus, I am Helgard Petrus Coetser. My mother remarried when I was in my final year at university to a gentleman named Norman Alfred Harding. My stepfather became the patriarch of our little family grouping.

On a few occasions, we discussed the Harding ancestors. My stepfather knew his lineage, and we could trace his ancestors to a Warren Harding, who became president of the United States of America and served for two terms. Other than this, the connections we had or the interest we had in finding information about my direct ancestors was nonexistent. It seems as if my grandparents never knew nor were they concerned about where they came from.

I cannot remember my mother or my father even mentioning anything regarding our ancestors or our family roots. It was not of any concern to anybody. Both my grandmothers—on my mother’s side grand old lady Sarah Nelson, and on my father’s side Duchess Heila Mariana Holtzhausen—never showed any concern about the ancestors.

The concern my grandmothers had with the ancestors was limited to the Boer War and the atrocities of that war. There was not much from my grandfathers’ sides. I only knew my mother’s father, who passed away while I was in primary school. My father’s father passed away before I was born.

Now that I am finally writing, I realize the emptiness that filled my very own being—an emptiness that I cannot explain but which nevertheless exists. This is why I am grabbing my laptop and starting to type. As usual, I am so selfish and self-concerned that I immediately grabbed the opportunity to rewrite my curriculum vitae, my résumé. But I am forcing myself not to use this laptop to apply for any jobs. My curriculum vitae is available for everybody on the internet on LinkedIn.

As for my purpose in writing, I do not have any purpose. I have just finished many years of studying for my doctorate, and I’ve finally realized that I am wasting my time and my professors’ time. This is quite a realization, and it has taken some getting used to. It came as a shock when I realized not much was to come of the time and effort that we put into my studies. Nevertheless, I am still writing. It is to make my mother happy. She always insisted that I write something. Well, this is my attempt.

THE STORY OF MY LIFE

I was born into a middle-class European family living in Africa. When I was a child, we lacked little, and everything was provided for. Our mother was a homemaker, and our father an accountant. I was the eldest and had one fantastic brother and two exceptionally beautiful and intelligent sisters.

Throughout my life, the feeling of emptiness continued to persist. I did not know what to make of it, nor could I identify it. Then one evening, I observed a tribute paid to my stepfather’s sister, Ms. Minnie Harding. The tribute was done by her son on January 4, 2021, with Reverend Gerald England.