Joubert Isak Jansen (53) from Heidedal in the Free State and Louisa Lubbie (50) from Nelspruit were jailed to a combined 15 years on 44 counts of theft and fraud on Friday, 21 June 2019.
Jansen worked for ABE Construction Chemicals (Pty) Ltd as a warehouse manager between 2011 and 2013. During 2012 and 2013, he presented 20 invoices from a bogus company, Joes Services, and stole almost R872 000 from his employer.
Investigations by the Hawks’ Bloemfontein Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in 2016 onwards, revealed that the said company was not registered and had no capacity to service ABE Construction.
Investigations also exposed that Joes Services bank account belonged to employees of ABE Construction. They alleged that they were forced to open accounts by Jansen and withdraw the deposits made therein to him. The amounts were paid to him without any personal gain from their part. Furthermore it was discovered that he rented a vehicle for his own personal gain on the account of ABE Construction for a total amount of R59 000.
On Friday the Bloemfontein Regional Court found him guilty on 17 counts of fraud and sentenced him to twelve (12) years imprisonment, suspended for five years on condition that he repays ABE Construction R583 000.
Meanwhile in Mpumalanga, Lubbie was convicted and sentenced on 27 counts of theft on Friday after she embezzled R144 000 from her employer.
In the course of 2016 Lubbie worked as a bookkeeper for FFA Mechanical Services, in Nelspruit. She was responsible for receiving and banking the company’s monies however she fraudulently made the payments to her personal bank account, and in the process manipulated the company’s books to hide the unlawful activities.
The case was also reported to the Nelspruit Serious Commercial Investigation team and after thorough investigation, Lubbie was sentenced to three years imprisonment or a fine of R70 000 as imposed by the Nelspruit Regional Court.
