Pretoria – Disgraced 45-year-old chartered accountant Jonathan Vorster has been sentenced to six years in prison for 11 counts of fraud, two years for theft and four years for money laundering involving more than R800 000.
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week sentenced Vorster for the Covid-19 TERS-related crimes and ordered that all his prison terms will run concurrently.
The court found that between April and August 2020 Vorster applied for Covid-19 TERS on behalf of his clients and after receiving payouts he would transfer the funds to his personal bank account.
Vorster was a chartered accountant operating under the company Basic Financial Solutions.
On 14 August 2020, the First National Bank noticed unusual payments in Vorster’s bank account.
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 21 July 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.
She further 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 that even though Vorster paid back the money he stole with interest, he failed to demonstrate any remorse.
The money Vorster used to pay back the stolen funds was not out of his pocket, the magistrate said.
Moreover, Vorster only pleaded guilty to the charges because the state had an airtight case against him.
“The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomes the sentence,” said Lumka Mahanjana, NPA Gauteng spokesperson.
