A former manager who diverted money into his own bank account has been given a custodial sentence by the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court. Jans Daniel Naude, 44, a former manager at Fanatics Trading, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with another three years suspended on condition he is not convinced of fraud and theft. Lumka Mahanjana, the National Prosecuting Authority’s Gauteng spokesperson, said 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. Between August 2016 and January 2022, Naude created fraudulent invoices and delivery notes purportedly from Federated Meats, and substituted the supplier’s legitimate banking details with those of his personal FNB account. As a result, payments exceeding R2m were unlawfully diverted into his personal account.
The fraud was uncovered when senior management at Fanatics Trading detected irregular and excessive stock purchases. An independent auditing firm was appointed, and after the audit findings, the matter was reported to police. He sought a non-custodial sentence, citing he was a first-time offender and the primary caregiver to his two minor children.
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Advocate Lerato Phoebe Labuschagne for the prosecution opposed a lenient sentence, stressing the seriousness of the offences and the gross abuse of trust. She told the court the financial prejudice suffered by the company was so severe that it had to borrow money to pay employees’ salaries. She urged the court to impose a sentence that would send a strong deterrent message.
Magistrate Ignatius de Preez found Naude failed to demonstrate genuine remorse and pleaded guilty only because the state had a strong case against him. The court noted Naude did not take it into his confidence by disclosing what he did with the stolen funds. The magistrate concluded a custodial sentence was appropriate under the circumstances.
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