North West man gets 7 years for stealing R12m from clients

A North West man has been found guilty of pocketing more than R12 million and faces seven years in jail.

Gerrit Abraham Coetzee, 51, was found guilty on 58 counts of fraud and money laundering on Thursday in the Vryburg Regional Court, said Hawks spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso.

Coetzee was found guilty of keeping premiums paid by clients.

“The accused, who worked for Vryburg Financial Services, allegedly convinced people to take life policies and retirement annuities of varying amounts,” said Rikhotso, but he “kept the money for his personal use”.

Around R12.7 million was paid by the clients between 2016 and 2018, in the form of premiums.

Coetzee was arrested in 2018.

He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, with three years suspended for five years, and would, therefore “serve an effective seven years”, said Rikhotso.

“In efforts to recover the money, he was ordered to surrender his retirement policy worth R1.2 million and his life insurance worth R2 million. He was further ordered to pay back R20 000 monthly for a period of six years.”

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