The farmer faced four counts of malicious damage to property in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, of which he was found guilty as charged.
In some cases electricity usage is not being recorded, in others payments previously received upfront will now only be collected 60 days later. Image: Supplied to Moneyweb
A Free State farmer will have to pay R750,000 after his five-year jail sentence was wholly suspended for interfering with an Eskom electricity meter allocated to his farm, police said on Saturday.
Willem Christiaan Venter, 63, was first served with a court summons on 20 March by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation.
“It was alleged that he had interfered with the meter, resulting in Eskom losing approximately R750,000 in what would have amounted to his electricity bill,” said spokesperson Warrant Officer Lynda Steyn.
Steyn said he faced four counts of malicious damage to property in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, of which he was found guilty as charged.
“Following a plea bargain, the Petrusburg Magistrate’s Court has ordered that Venter pay back Eskom the R750,000.
“The five-year imprisonment has been wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of any similar offences.”
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