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A former Northern Cape Cricket Union financial manager has been sentenced to four years imprisonment after depositing payments due to service providers, totalling more than R400 000, into his own account.
The Kimberley Specialised Commercial Crimes Court convicted and then sentenced 25-year-old Jean Pierre Van Niekerk for fraud and money laundering.
The accused first appeared on Thursday, 21 December 2023, after being arrested by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) serious commercial crime unit for fraud, and theft.
Between July 2022 and March 2023, Van Niekerk was employed by Northern Cape Cricket Union as a financial manager, where he misappropriated funds belonging to the employer, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said.
“Payments that were due to service providers were deposited to his personal bank account. The entity suffered an actual loss exceeding R400 000 plus interest,” he said.
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During the trial, advocate Belinda Thomas of the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU) argued that the court should sentence the accused to direct imprisonment, to send a clear message to other perpetrators of corruption and fraud-related cases that they will be arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to direct imprisonment.
In sentencing, the accused was found guilty of fraud and money laundering.
“He was sentenced to four years imprisonment in terms of Section 276(1)(i). This means he will serve a portion of his sentence in prison and the rest will be under correctional supervision,” Senokoatsane said.
However, he was not declared unfit to possess a firearm.
“Serious commercial crimes threaten the economic stability of the country hence the National Prosecuting Authority will channel all its resources to ensure that we adopt an aggressive stance in prosecuting these cases.”
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