BUSINESSMAN SENTENCED FOR MONEY LAUNDERING

Photo: Hawks Logo

Supplied:

By: Neo Ntsele

Nicolas John Eyberg 55, appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 19, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced as charged for contravention of Section 4 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (money laundering).

In 2015, a senior official in the Free State Department of Public Works became suspicious of fraudulent payments made to a company owned by Eyberg known as New Horizon Beleging.

The company had a lease agreement with the department for a building in Harrismith. It was discovered that the accused and his company were submitting inflated and fraudulent invoices for the property.

These fraudulent payments were for rates, water and electricity.

As a result of the fraudulent activities, the Department of Public Works was prejudiced and suffered a total loss of more than R3 million.

The matter was then reported to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in Bloemfontein for further investigation.

It was discovered that the department would make payments to the accused, and after receiving the payments, he would transfer the money to his co–accused.

The court sentenced Eyberg to ten years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of the same offence during the period of suspension.

He was also sentenced to a fine of R50 000 which he is expected to pay in monthly installments of R2 500.

The court took into consideration that the accused has repaid R3 ‪850 100.09‬ which was lost by the department due to fraudulent payments.