A man, found guilty of defrauding over 3, 000 victims of hundreds of millions, has been sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
This comes after Yunus Moolla (61) pleaded guilty to 3, 799 counts of fraud and multiple counts of contravening the Banks and Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act.
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National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, on Friday, revealed that between January 2011 and February 2015, Moolla operated a Ponzi scheme by promising investors that he would use their investments to deal and trade in diesel and petroleum products, and provide them with a return between two percent and eight percent per month on their investments.
“He defrauded 3, 799 investors of about R500 million. He was eventually arrested in 2016, following investigations by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the Commercial Crime Unit of the SAPS,” she explained.
In court, Moolla had initially pleaded not guilty, however, he changed his plea to guilty after the state led the evidence of 10 investor witnesses.
In aggravation of sentence, senior state advocate, Wendy O Brien reminded the court of the severely negative consequences that Moolla’s actions had on the complainants.
“Many investors had invested their pensions and life savings into the scheme. Moolla lived the high life on the proceeds of this crime, and…
