The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced a 44-year-old man to an effective four years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of defrauding his employer of more than R2-million over several years.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana explained that Jans Daniel Naude, a former manager at Fanatics Trading in Centurion, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. Three years of the sentence were suspended for five years, on condition that he is not convicted of fraud or theft during the suspension period. This means Naude will serve an effective four years in prison.

She added that the court declared Naude unfit to possess a firearm after he was convicted on 23 counts of fraud.

“Naude was employed as the Technical and Production Manufacturing Facilities Manager from 2014 until February 2024 at Fanatics Trading, a company involved in food manufacturing and meat and poultry processing. His responsibilities included ordering bulk stock from suppliers, including chicken products,” she said.

According to Mahanjana, between August 12, 2016, and January 12, 2022, Naude devised a scheme in which he created fraudulent invoices and delivery notes that purported to be from Federated Meats.

She said he then substituted the supplier’s legitimate banking details with those of his personal First National Bank account, resulting in payments exceeding R2-million being unlawfully diverted into his account.

“The fraud was uncovered when senior management at Fanatics Trading detected irregular and excessive stock purchases. An independent auditing firm was appointed, and following the audit findings, the matter was reported to the South African Police Service. Naude was subsequently summoned to appear in court,” stated Mahanjana.

In court, Naude pleaded guilty and admitted to committing the offences, telling the court that he acted out of resentment after being overlooked for a promotion.

“He sought a non-custodial sentence through his legal representative, citing that he was a first-time offender and the primary caregiver to his two minor children. However, the State, represented by Advocate Lerato Phoebe Labuschagne, opposed a lenient sentence and highlighted the seriousness of the offences.”

Mahanjana added that Labuschagne stressed that Naude had grossly abused a position of trust and informed the court that the financial prejudice suffered by the company was so severe that it had to borrow money to pay employees’ salaries.

The advocate further urged the court to impose a sentence that would serve as a strong deterrent.

In handing down the sentence, Magistrate Ignatius de Preez found that Naude failed to show genuine remorse and that he only pleaded guilty because the state had a strong case against him.

Mahanjana added that the court also noted that Naude did not take the court into his confidence by disclosing what he did with the stolen funds, leading the magistrate to conclude that a custodial sentence was appropriate under the circumstances.

“The NPA welcomes the sentence, which affirms that those who abuse positions of trust for personal gain will be held accountable. The sentence serves as a clear warning that white-collar crime is not victimless and will be met with decisive prosecutorial action.”

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