Attorney guilty of R22m fraud

2003-05-01 16:52

Umtata - Attorney Silulami Nontenja was found guilty on 63 counts of fraud totalling more than R22m in the Umtata High Court on Wednesday.

Nontenja was convicted of submitting fraudulent claims for contract work at the state attorney's office in Umtata between November 1997 and June 1998.

In 1998, he acted on behalf of 510 members of the South African National Defence Force in a matter of severance pay packages and claimed R14.7m.

Passing judgment, Judge David Lombaard said it was clear that Nontenja and a State attorney acted in common purpose to defraud the government.

"It was a well planned scheme to the detriment of the State by using government officials and only R12.7m was recovered," said State advocate Nico du Plessis.

Du Plessis said Nontenja was a prominent attorney in Umtata who misused his position. He suggested that he should be sentenced to at least 20 years in jail.

But Nontenja's attorney Sithembele Mgxaji said the application for imprisonment was irrelevant.

The case was postponed for sentencing.

The other charges related to value added tax fraud.

- SAPA