8 years in jail for disgraced accountant
Mouton defaults on ECDC’s R1.3m deposit
DISGRACED Cape Town chartered accountant Willem Roux Mouton, who failed to pay back the R1.3-million he defrauded the Eastern Cape Development Corporation of in 2012, was yesterday sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
Mouton was found guilty on one count of theft and one of fraud on October 5 last year in the East London Magistrate’s Court. He was sentenced to eight years in jail.
The sentence was suspended for five years on condition that he was not found guilty of similar offences during that suspension period.
He was told to pay back the money within nine months or face imprisonment. After he failed to make a single payment, the ECDC approached the court this year.
Yesterday ECDC spokesman Mandla Mpikashe said: “The accused was ordered to pay ECDC an amount of R1.3-million by August 2017 as per the court order.
“After failing to honour a grace period that he requested, the ECDC reported the matter to the NPA in October 2017.”
Mouton was arrested by the Hawks in Cape Town in 2014 following months of investigation by its commercial crime unit.
Mouton’s company had failed to source 255 000 2-litre bottles of blended cooking oil for a company that secured a R4.6-million loan from the ECDC to supply Weirs Cash and Carry with the oil.
Mouton’s company, Wilbur Financial Trust CC, was the broker and the party set down to source the oil for Sayola Global from a supplier.
Sayola is a client of the ECDC and the applicant for the loan.
Weirs Cash and Carry was the eventual purchaser of the blended oil from Sayola.
In 2012 Sayola – a company owned by Siyabulela Manona and Phumezo Mciteka – applied for the loan from ECDC and R4.595-million was granted to them.
The ECDC made the first payment to Wilbur Financial Trust, which acted as a broker for Sayola. As Mouton’s company was to supply the cooking oil, Sayola was required to pay a 30% deposit of R1 319 625.
The ECDC duly paid the money but Wilbur Financial Trust failed to deliver the cooking oil.
The corporation started demanding its money back in January 2013. —