A Western Cape couple has been jailed for a vehicle financing swindle that resulted in a loss of more than R27m to the banking industry.
The Bellville serious commercial crimes court sentenced Marius and Adele Coetzee on Wednesday.
They were sentenced alongside an accomplice, Mariette Cupido. Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said Adele was the “mastermind” behind the scheme while Cupido, who worked for a car dealership in Malmesbury, facilitated the deals.
The Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team, working with the banking industry, arrested the couple in Brits, in the North West, in 2014. Cupido was arrested in 2017 and joined the couple in the dock.
“The trio was involved in a vehicle-purchase scheme by applying for hire-purchase finance from banking institutions using fraudulent documents which were submitted via a dealership in Malmesbury,” said Hani.
Hani said the crimes involved 73 fraudulent financing transactions made to banks between 2012 and 2014 “which resulted in a loss of more than R27m to the banking industry”.
Image: Hawks
“During the operation, the investigating team recovered 10 vehicles at a farm in the Brits vicinity to which the Coetzees fled from the Western Cape.
“They appeared in the Brits regional court in September 2014 on more than 70 counts of fraud and the case was then transferred to the Malmesbury regional court in the jurisdiction area where the crimes were committed.”
Adele was found guilty on 71 charges of fraud and was handed a 15-year jail sentence. Six years were suspended for five years.
Marius was convicted of 70 charges and sentenced to 15 years behind bars, 10 of which were suspended for five years.
Cupido was found guilty on two charges of fraud and sentenced to 60 days imprisonment and a further 24 months of correctional supervision.
The trio was declared unfit to possess firearms.
TimesLIVE