Accountant who stole millions from brothers gets 22 years in jail

A 52-year-old chartered accountant who stole R52 million from two brothers who were his clients has been dealt a blow after he was sentenced to an effective 22 years in jail.

Jonathan Blow appeared in the Gqeberha Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday where the sentence was handed down.

The court sentenced Blow to 15 years imprisonment on each count of theft, but Magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani ordered eight years for one count to run concurrently with the sentence for another charge.

Blow, who was the sole director of PE Accounting Solutions (PEAS),  which was appointed to provide accounting services for two SuperSpar entities, one in Gqeberha and the other in Despatch, pleaded guilty when he realised that the prosecution had overwhelming evidence against him.

Plea bargain

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said in his plea bargain, Blow admitted that since 2012, PEAS was appointed as accountants of Despatch SuperSpar, rendering accounting, payroll, and creditor payment services every month for an agreed fee. 

“To effectively render the services, he required and was given full access and administrative rights to the business’s trading bank accounts.  From 11 September 2022 to 10 March 2023, in addition to the fees for which he had invoiced Despatch SuperSpar, he admitted to having unlawfully transferred amounts totalling R11.4 million from the entity’s trading accounts to PEAS. 

“He only made 24 repayments to Dispatch SuperSpar amounting to R4.9 million and pocketed R6.5 million,” Tyali said.

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Suffering

In aggravation of the sentence, state advocate Lise Keech called both brothers, Paul, and Peter Barnes, who owned the two businesses from which Blow stole to the stand.

The siblings told the court how they suffered and are still reeling from the effects of Blow, whom they had considered as a brother and friend. 

Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Barry Madolo and the Barnes brothers commended the prosecutor, investigating team and Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) for ensuring that justice was served, and the white-collar criminal is punished accordingly. 

Theft

According to the NPA,  PEAS has been providing its services to Sunridge Park SuperSpar since 1999. Using the same modus operandi, Blow transferred a total of R40.5 million from the client’s accounts to PEAS during the period between 3 July 2020 and 19 September 2022. 

He made repayments totalling R16.3 million, and the brothers suffered a loss of R24.2 million. The state argued that it was not repayments, but Blow did this in order not to get caught.

Blow blamed his crimes on his gambling habit. 

“The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit could only salvage R1.8 million from Blow, who had used some of the stolen money to buy shares in Spar at Kariega,” Tiyali said.

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