NORTH WEST – Gerrit Abraham Coetzee (51) was found guilty on Fifty eight counts of fraud and money laundering on Thursday by the Vryburg Regional Court.
The accused who worked for Vryburg Financial services allegedly convinced people to take life policies and retirement annuities of varying amounts.
Approximately R12. 7 million rand was paid by the clients between 2016 and 2018 in a form of premiums. The accused however kept the money for his personal use.
In 2018 the accused was arrested and made a series of court appearances until ultimately being found guilty. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment whereby 3 years were suspended for 5 years. He will serve an effective 7 years.
In efforts to recover the money, he was ordered to surrender his retirement policy worth R1. 2 million and his life insurance worth R2 million. He was further ordered to pay back R20 000 monthly for a period of 6 years.
