Couple sentenced for defrauding rugby union
A CREDITOR’S clerk and her husband have been sentenced in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Cape Town for defrauding the South African Rugby Union (SARU) of over R3 million.
Berenice Knockpaal, aged 44, and Carlo Wayne Knockpaal, 47, were convicted of fraud and money laundering over a period of four years from 2014 until 2018 while the former was employed as a creditor’s clerk in SARU’S operations and finance department, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said.
Berenice Knockpaal’s responsibilities included processing supplier invoices, reconciling supplier accounts and paying suppliers.
“She substituted SARU’S supplier bank accounts with her husband’s bank accounts and paid R3.4 million into the bank accounts,” Ntabazalila said.
“They then used the money to purchase, withdrew it and transferred some of it to other bank accounts concealing the source and movement of the money.”
Knockpaal was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for 147 counts of fraud and five years for money laundering. Half of the fraud sentenced was suspended and the court ordered the sentence for money laundering run concurrently with the remaining fraud sentence.
She will therefore effectively serve seven years imprisonment.
The state successfully applied for a forfeiture order and Knockpaal forfeited her pension from the Rugby Pension Fund amounting to R153 787 which will be handed over to the Criminal Asset Recovery Account.
Her husband received a non-custodial sentence of three years correctional supervision for 147 counts of fraud. This would include house arrest, 16 hours correctional supervision a month including cleaning and maintenance duties at the Diep River police station and the attendance of rehabilitation programmes.
He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for money laundering, wholly suspended for five years provided he is not convicted of fraud, theft and or an attempt to commit any of those offences.
Ntabazalila said the NPA welcomed the sentences handed down to the couple as this came at a time when the authority was strengthening its fight against such crimes.