Johannesburg - Mark Jonathan Vorster has been convicted of six years direct imprisonment for 11 counts of fraud, two years direct imprisonment for theft, and four years direct imprisonment for money laundering worth more than R800 000, relating to Covid-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS).
Voster was sentenced at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
“The sentences were ordered to run concurrently with the six years of imprisonment. Vorster was self-employed as a chartered accountant for five years under the company Basic Financial Solutions,” said NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“Between April 2020 and August 2020, Vorster would apply for the Covid-19 TERS on behalf of his clients, and after receiving payouts, he would transfer the funds to his personal bank account. On August 14, 2020, the FNB noticed unusual payments in Vorster’s bank account,” said Mahanjana.
Mahanjana said after enquiring with him, the bank froze R400 000 of the funds that were still in his bank account and proceeded to report the matter to the Department of Labour and later to the police.
Vorster was arrested on July 21, 2021.
“He pleaded guilty to the charges and asked for a sentence of a fine because he had paid back the stolen funds to the Department of Labour. However, in aggravation, the State prosecutor asked for a sentence of direct imprisonment because when Vorster stole the money, he was in a position of trust and he betrayed it,” said Mahanjana.
“The State prosecutor added that these offences escalated to new levels during a time when our country’s economy was brought to its knees by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“When handing down the sentence, the magistrate said even though Vorster paid back the balance of the stolen money with interest, he found that he did not show any true remorse as the money he used to pay back the stolen money was not out of his pocket,” added Mahanjana.
She said Vorster only pleaded guilty to the charges because the State had an airtight case against him and he had no other choice, but to concede defeat.
The Star