MAN SLAPPED WITH A HEFTY SENTENCE FOR DEFRAUDING AN ELDERLY WOMAN

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By: Neo Ntsele

The Free State Division of the High Court in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, the 3rd, sentenced Sello Cedric Pinkoane (52) to 14 years of direct imprisonment for fraud, uttering, and money laundering worth R64.8 million.

In January 2017, the accused approached an elderly businesswoman with a business proposal.

He claimed to have obtained a lucrative tender with a leading mining company.

He informed the victim that he urgently needed vehicles and cash.

The elderly businesswoman agreed and purchased six Isuzu bakkies, also providing the accused with money.

Later, when the victim contacted the mining company, she found out that the accused had never secured a tender.

He had forged her signature, transferred ownership of the vehicles, and sold them.

Pinkoane was arrested on 18 January 2023.

Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, Free State Provincial Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), praised the Welkom Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit for securing the sentence.