VBS fraudster’s plea deal spells bad news for co-accused

The plea deal entered into by Phillip Truter, VBS Mutual Bank’s former chief financial officer, might not augur well for his seven co-accused, who could be facing much stiffer jail terms, if convicted.

A legal expert on Thursday said, Truter – a key figure in the multi-billion-rand corruption scandal which led to VBS  being declared insolvent and placed under curatorship two years ago – made a compelling case to the prosecution.

Facing charges ranging from racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and corruption, Truter, who got an effective seven-year sentence after entering into a plea bargain, has pleaded guilty.

According to Accountability Now director, Advocate Paul Hoffman, a recommended minimum sentence under the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, was set at a 15-year imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 years, three of which have been suspended for five years.

With his co-accused confronted by a prospect of more charges being added when the case resumes in January, Hoffman said Truter’s legal strategy paid off.

Hoffman explained: “He (Truter) got more than a 50% discount, because if you look at the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, you could see that when the law was passed by parliament, there was a need to be serious about combatting corruption, until the Scorpions were closed under the Jacob Zuma presidency.

“Mr Truter is probably motivated by a desire to make a clean break. In the absence of a plea bargain, he might have picked up a really stiff sentence, whereas seven years with good behaviour could see him out of jail quite quickly, if the parole board lets him come out.

“He has also come across as genuinely contrite.”

Hoffman said Truter has managed to persuade the prosecution to reduce the number of years that they were asking for in the plea bargain, in exchange for making it easier for them to go after his co-accused.

He added: “If you can sell it to a judge, the nice thing about a plea bargain is knowing what is going to happen to you. Whereas, if there is no plea bargain, at the end of the case you do not come across as someone who has regrets after committing a crime – making you not nearly as credible.

“For it to work, a plea bargain obviously involves admitting guilt.”

Recalling the Travelgate saga, one of the many high-profile post-apartheid plea bargains, involving ANC MPs, Hoffman said: “Members of parliament, got involved in defrauding the state, in relation to how travel allowances were spent. This involved a travel agency, which helped them on how to beat the system.

“Given the amounts involved, the cases should have attracted sentences of imprisonment in excess of a year without the option of a fine. This would have meant all those politicians, many of whom are still around, some in cabinet – would have lost their entitlement of being MPs, under the constitution.

“They entered into plea bargains with the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court in order not only to show contrition, that they were sorry for defrauding the public purse, but in order to get a sentence that enabled them to remain in parliament.”

brians@citizen.co.za

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