$50m fraud accused found ‘hiding’ in NZ
South African police hunt leads to expastor’s wife in Tauranga, writes Jacques Steenkamp.
‘ We are so careful of what we can say ... Obviously, it’s not true. We are trying to protect her.’ FRANCOIS JOUBERT
SONYA Joubert’s Kiwi friends and neighbours know her as the friendly wife of a former church pastor – but South African police have revealed they want to extradite her to stand trial for allegedly stealing $50 million from a telecommunications company.
The nation’s elite police crimefighting unit, The Hawks, launched a manhunt for Joubert, 43, who they say is ‘‘hiding’’ in New Zealand.
Joubert’s attorney in Auckland, Chris Patterson, said his client denied any wrongdoing and she would not return to South Africa.
Sunday News tracked down Joubert to Tauranga, where her husband works as a manager for the Samaritan’s Purse evangelical Christian international aid organisation.
At her five-bedroom home in Pyes Pa, Joubert wouldn’t come to the door this weekend. But her husband Francois Joubert said the matter was ongoing and they didn’t want to say anything. ‘‘The couple of times we did say something right at the beginning, people took our words and just twisted it. And the end of the day you look like the bad guy.
‘‘We are so careful of what we can say ... Obviously, it’s not true. We are trying to protect her.’’
The Hawks allege Joubert and her accomplice, Adriaan van Vuuren, defrauded Trudon, a subsidiary of the state-owned Telkom, of R500 million ($50m) over a period of nine years.
Sonya and Francois Joubert, who was a pastor for 22 years, are believed to have moved to New Zealand in 2012. South African authorities had no idea where she was, saying she had fled the country and was in hiding.
Van Vuuren, who was the IT manager for Trudon, allegedly created fraudulent invoices between 2007 and 2016 to pay a fictitious supplier for IT services.
‘‘Trudon transferred funds into Bites Bee Holding and The Corporate Choice’s account owned by Sonya Joubert. Telkom reported a loss of R500 million in total on all transactions made to these two companies,’’ said Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu.
Bites Bee Holdings and The Corporate Choice were registered solely in Joubert’s name in South Africa. She has since registered several new companies in New Zealand, one of which is named The Corporate Choice Limited.
Mulamu’s office was working closely with Interpol to apprehend Joubert: ‘‘A warrant of arrest has been issued for her arrest and the extradition process is underway.’’
Joubert at first referred all queries to Patterson. But on a WhatsApp message yesterday she said ‘‘it’s a shame’’ that we’re publishing ‘‘a lot of hearsay, playing with words and including a dash of sensation by including her family’’.
‘‘The truth is far less spectacular, much more simplistic. If you’re really interested in the truth, don’t look at old news stories, ask the right questions: a warrant of arrest for? Fleeing on what grounds?’’
Patterson said Joubert ‘‘fervently denies any allegations of wrongdoing on her part. She has been implicated in this matter only because of her association with the company, Bite Bee Holdings CC, through being named as its director.
‘‘At all relevant times she had absolutely no knowledge or reason to suspect that the individual who the South African authorities were investigating and has now deceased had committed any wrongdoing.’’
Patterson said Joubert was willing to fully co-operate but she would not be ‘‘voluntarily travelling halfway around the world to South Africa’’ to clear her name in court. The Hawks had not contacted him or Joubert, who is a New Zealand resident.