South African accused in $50m con faces arrest
INTERPOL is understood to be about to issue an arrest warrant for a woman wanted in South Africa on fraud charges totalling $50 million.
Sonya Joubert, 43, the wife of a former pastor, has been living in New Zealand since 2012.
She and an accomplice, Adriaan van Vuuren, are accused of defrauding the company Trudon, a subsidiary of the stateowned Telkom, of R500 million ($50m) over a period of nine years.
South Africa’s elite police crime-fighting unit, The Hawks, say Joubert has been ‘‘hiding’’ and that they’ve been searching for her, but Sunday News easily located her in Tauranga.
Joubert denies the allegations, but refuses to return to her country of birth to clear her name.
Her lawyer, Chris Patterson, said last week that ‘‘there is no extradition treaty between New Zealand and South Africa’’.
But a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice has confirmed that even though there’s no treaty, New Zealand’s extradition legislation does not require one in order to send or receive extradition requests to and from other countries.
A source close to the investigation has confirmed that Joubert could potentiality be arrested within a week now that her whereabouts has been confirmed.
However, Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu has refused to confirm this, saying: ‘‘Sonya’s matter is at the most sensitive stage right now.’’
‘‘We cannot comment further. Let’s rather give the investigation team a chance to do their work properly without any interferences that might jeopardise the investigation.’’
Patterson also did not want to comment. ‘‘Sonya will not be giving any interviews with the New Zealand media until matters with the South African authorities have been resolved,’’ he said.
Joubert’s husband, Francois Joubert, who has been a pastor for 22 years, is currently working as a manager for the Samaritan’s Purse evangelical Christian international aid organisation.
Samaritan’s Purse national manager for New Zealand and Australia, Rowan Armstrong, said Sonya Joubert ‘‘has never been employed by Samaritan’s Purse, nor does she hold any formal role with the organisation’’.