A former real estate employee has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the Cape Town Regional Court on more than 400 counts of fraud.
Riaan Theunissen, 38, was convicted of fraud after misappropriating R5.5 million from his employer, Just Properties, based in Table View.
He made his first court appearance in December 2024 after a warrant of arrest was executed against him.
Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), Lieutenant Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi, said Theunissen was charged with 473 counts of fraud.
At the time, Theunissen was granted R3,000 bail with conditions attached.
“This was after the accused misappropriated funds from his employer, Just Properties in Table View. He disguised and facilitated irregular payments, inter alia, and circumvented controls in the PayProp system’s payments module by archiving certain transactions. He did not follow the company’s approval and payment policies and procedures. He was charged with 473 counts of fraud to the amount of R5,552,000,” Vukubi said.
On Tuesday, the court sentenced Theunissen to 10 years’ imprisonment, of which two years were suspended for a period of five years.
Effectively, Theunissen will serve eight years of direct imprisonment.
The provincial head of the Hawks, Major General Mathipa Makgato, welcomed the sentence and commended both the investigation and prosecution teams for the breakthrough.
Makgato further warned the public that the law will ultimately prevail over all those involved in criminal activities.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL
