ERMELO – Senyane Alton Seropane Mphethi (55), a prominent businessman and former president of a political party, was arrested and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for defeating the course of justice and being an accomplice in a murder case.

According to Capt Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, the spokesman for the Mpumalanga Hawks, the accused had a contract with the Mpumalanga Department of Education to transport learners in the Gert Sibande District Municipal area.

She said he submitted duplicate claims to the department in which he had changed the invoice numbers and the dates when submitting them.

“The department suffered a loss of R830 000 on the first claim and R1 997 964 on the second one,” she said.

The matter was reported to the Hawks and the accused was arrested by the Mpumalanga Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in 2015.

The Ermelo Magistrate’s Court convicted Mphethi on 34 counts of fraud on July 31.

“He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on August 20, wholly suspended for five years on condition that he pays R3m with the first instalment of R50 000 on or before August 30,” she said.

Read how much his two companies were fined for in the Highvelder newspaper.