Pastor’s wife spared fraud case

NZ-based South African will not have to return after charges withdrawn, writes Catherine Harris.

A South African woman based in Tauranga has told of her massive relief after charges relating to a $50 million fraud investigation in her home country were withdrawn.

Earlier this year, South African police issued an arrest warrant for mother-of-four Sonya Joubert.

She was sole director of two companies which received half a billion rand (NZ$50m) from Trudon, an arm of state-owned telecommunications company Telkom.

According to South African police, the payments were for nine years of fraudulent software invoices by Joubert’s business partner and Trudon’s IT manager at the time, Adriaan van Vuuren.

In March, after widespread publicity, van Vuuren committed suicide, and the investigation turned to Joubert.

Her Auckland lawyer, Chris Patterson, said South African authorities had accepted her evidence from New Zealand and she would not be forced to return.

Captain Carol Maluma, a spokesman for the South African crime-fighting unit the Hawks, confirmed the case against Joubert had been withdrawn.

‘‘Apparently the prosecution authority has informed the defence that they are going to withdraw the case against Sonya; reasons being, there is no reasonable prospect of possible prosecution.’’

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Star-Times, Joubert said she had not felt free to speak earlier for legal reasons, but it had been a frightening experience.

‘‘It has put a tremendous strain on us as a family. It was out of the blue, really unexpected and I was very scared. It was very difficult for me to focus, and us as a family to focus on anything else, really, except this case.

‘‘When I was a little girl, my mum used to say to me that your name is everything, and I guess when this came through I realised how true that was, and how quickly that can be damaged.’’

The family migrated to New Zealand in 2012. Joubert, 43, said they moved here for a better life and rejected any notion she had fled, as police had implied.

One of the things we enjoy about New Zealand is the fact that we can actually sleep peacefully at night and not worry about violence in your home. Sonya Joubert

‘‘I really felt that was so misleading, especially as we’d been here such a long time.’’

Her biggest fear had been that she would be forced to go back to South Africa to testify. An extradition process had begun, and although charges were never laid, the offence carried a term of up to 15 years in jail.

Her adviser Janet Zuccoa said Joubert had been upfront with the authorities.

‘‘She didn’t run away, she didn’t try to hide, she was always available by phone or Skype, always available for them to come here and talk to her.’’

Zuccoa said Joubert was not involved in the fraud, which was sophisticated and would have deceived most people.

‘‘Those activities were very masked. They looked like standard ordinary business practice.’’

Her South African lawyer, John Vickers, said Joubert had provided the authorities with documentation that showed ‘‘beyond doubt’’ that van Vuuren had duped both her and Trudon.

Joubert said the ordeal had taken a toll on their social and professional lives.

Her husband Francois, a former pastor, had stepped back from his position running Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian aid charity, although he was now working for it again.

‘‘It wasn’t what we wanted, his name to be dragged through the mud in this way, so it was damaging obviously for him.’’

Joubert has registered several companies in New Zealand but said she was running only one, an electrical safety mask business.

The family intended to stay here, she said.

‘‘One of the things we enjoy about New Zealand is the fact that we can actually sleep peacefully at night and not worry about violence in your home.’’