Fraudsters receive heavy jail sentences
‘This sentence will serve as a deterrent to all acts of corruption’
A FORMER municipal manager and chief financial officer at the Karoo Hoogland Municipality in the Northern Cape and a bogus company owner were each sentenced by the Williston Regional Court to five years’ imprisonment for corruption, four years for money laundering and two years for four counts of fraud.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Philani Nkwalase said Louis Nothnagel, 55, the former Hoogland municipal manager, and Marius Botha, 58, a former chief financial officer at the municipality, were sentenced on Wednesday, along with Ockert Tobias Cloete, 65.
Botha, also the current Mossel Bay Municipality chief financial officer, was suspended from the municipality pending an investigation.
“Ockert Tobias Cloete was given an additional eight years’ imprisonment for a separate fraud charge. The sentences are to run concurrently. Botha will effectively serve five years’ imprisonment while Cloete will serve eight years.”
Nothnagel was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, with an alternative R5 000 fine, for contravention of section 173 (1) of the municipal finance management act 53 of 2003, translating to negligence or failure to prevent corruption.
Hawks acting head Yolisa Matakata welcomed the sentences against the trio, saying: “This sentence will serve as a deterrent to all acts of corruption, particularly in the public service sector. Those who witness corruption have an obligation to report it, and failure to do so will result in one being prosecuted.”
They were found guilty in May, and earlier this week, following an application by the Asset Forfeiture Unit, the court ordered that Botha repay R100 000 and Cloete repay R50 000 as recovery of the proceeds of crime.
A Hawks investigation revealed that the prescribed procurement processes were not followed in appointing the service provider. “Consequently, Cloete’s bogus company received undue payments for delivery and installation of 600 solar geysers to the community in Williston.”