Ballito cellphone retailer iWorld and its sole director, Jenine Ballraj (35), have been convicted on 694 counts relating to counterfeit goods valued at more than R500 000.

According to court documents, Smartphone Parts (Pty) Ltd, trading as iWorld, and Ballraj were convicted in the KwaDukuza Regional Court on June 10.

The charges related to the sale of counterfeit Apple accessories at the company’s Ballito Junction store, including iPads, AirPods, chargers, USB cables and magnetic fast chargers, valued at R508 933.

According to the court record, Ballraj was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment or a R50 000 fine, suspended for five years on condition that she is not convicted of the same offence during the suspension period.

She was also sentenced to three years’ correctional supervision, including house arrest and 16 hours of community service a month for 36 months.

The sentence further requires her to participate in responsibility-acceptance, reality-confrontation and life-skills programmes. She was also prohibited from using alcohol or drugs and from committing another criminal offence.

Ballraj disputed the Courier’s account of the sentence and threatened legal action.

“What you are publishing is not according to what is contained in the courts [sic] record. I didn’t receive a R50 000 fine. I didn’t get any imprisonment,” she said.

The court record seen by the Courier, however, records the imprisonment-or-fine sentence as suspended.

It does not indicate that Ballraj paid a R50 000 fine or will serve the three-year prison term.

Ballraj did not provide the Courier with an alternative account of the sentence.

Ballito Junction declined to comment.

Counterfeit goods form part of South Africa’s wider illicit economy, which government officials have warned costs the country billions in lost revenue.

During his Budget Speech in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana described illicit trade as a threat to the economy and consumers.

In a presentation to Parliament earlier this year, then Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter estimated South Africa’s illicit economy at between R800-billion and R1.2-trillion, with an estimated R200- R300-billion in tax revenue lost.

He said the illicit economy had grown from about 5% of GDP to about 12-15% over the past 15 to 20 years.