LeisureNet fine will make mockery of offence – prosecutor

Although under the Criminal Procedure Act, anyone convicted of fraud involving more than R500 000 (they were found guilty of charges involving R6m each) must be sentenced to a minimum 15 years unless the judge finds ‘substantial and compelling’ reasons to do otherwise, there were indications in court yesterday that they will be treated leniently, writes E-Brief News. Advocate Rudi van Rooyen for the State said the prosecution accepted that the men\'s personal circumstances justified imprisonment shorter than 15 years. But he rejected a defence submission that they be given correctional supervision, a suspended sentence and a substantial fine, says a report on the IoL site. ‘A fine will make a mockery of the offence as it will hardly cause the accused any long term hardship and it will simply send out the message that the wealthy can buy their way out of prison,’ he said. He proposed a 10-year jail sentence for Gardener, who has a previous conviction for insider trading and VAT fraud at LeisureNet, and eight for Mitchell. Full report on the IoL site

The pair should not be dealt with under minimum sentencing legislation on fraud, argued Francois van Zyl, the advocate for Gardener and Mitchell. According to a report on the FIN24 site, Van Zyl said the court had to question the meaning that should be given to the word ‘involving’ in the minimum sentencing law. He said the fact that the pair made R6m each did not mean that LeisureNet itself suffered prejudice of that amount. He said the court had made a finding of prejudice but this referred only to their non-disclosure of their interests in the transactions, and the fact that as a result the LeisureNet board was precluded from investigating whether they could be forced to repay LeisureNet. Full report on FIN24 site

How seriously courts view white collar crime may become evident in the sentencing. That’s a point made in a report on the trial in today’s latest issue of Legalbrief Today’s companion publication, Legalbrief Forensic. It also raises the issue of whether the acting judge should use deterrence as a consideration when sentencing the former LeisureNet CEs. Legalbrief Forensic also tackles the hoax Gold Fields-Pastorini takeover bid; the ongoing Fidentia scandal; the latest identity theft scam and several other issues relating to fraud, corruption, governance, cybercrime, transparency, risk management etc in SA and elsewhere Read more in Legalbrief Forensic by ordering a month\'s FREE trial today by e-mailing forensic@legalbrief.co.za