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By Jolene Marriah-Maharaj 
9h ago
Durban – A KwaZulu-Natal businessman convicted of defrauding people of nearly R7 million has avoided jail.
Jan Hendrik van Zyl was recently convicted at the Durban Commercial Crimes Court for crimes committed in Durban between 2009 and 2014.
According to Hawks spokesman Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo, the court heard that Van Zyl, owner of a company called QPT Trading, had informed the victims that he was investing his cash in Forex Trading and promised them a 5% return per month.
The company was based in Newcastle and had branches in Amanzimtoti and Ballito.
“The contracts were signed and then he paid some monthly returns and abruptly stopped paying,” Mhlongo said.
“The matter was reported to the police and the case file was assigned to members of the Durban Serious Commercial Crime Hawks for investigation.
“As a result, nearly R 4.5 million were recovered and reimbursed to investors.”
Van Zyl was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fully suspended for 5 years, provided that he was not found guilty of the same crime during the period of suspension.
In addition, the court ordered Van Zyl to repay the outstanding amount of R2.4 million in installments of R40,000 per month through the court clerk.
In addition, the court ordered him to perform community service.
MESS
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