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A Free State man and woman have been sentenced to R43 million in prison for fraud, corruption, money laundering and involvement in criminal gang activities.
Mario Marco, Getty Images
A Free State man and woman have been sentenced to prison for fraud, corruption, money laundering worth R3 million and involvement in criminal gang activities.
On Friday, Elizabeth Christina Knouwds, 40, and Willem Johannes van Tonder, 35, were sentenced to 10 years in effective prison by the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court. The two defendants operated a used car dealership called Lulu’s Auto CC in Jacobsdal between May 2008 and October 2009.
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They were found guilty of conspiring and submitting multiple vehicle financing applications with fraudulent documents to Absa Bank in Kimberley. They then inflated the value of the vehicles to a total of nearly R43 million, said Hawks spokeswoman Lynda Steyn.
“Once the bank paid the money, they pocketed the difference in the inflated value,” says Steyn.
Knouwds and Van Tonder were found guilty and each was sentenced to 10 years for fraud, four years for money laundering and four years for participation in criminal gang activity. The sentences have been ordered to run simultaneously, which means an effective prison term of 10 years for each convicted person.
