Johannesburg – A National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Assistant Director, 52-year-old Jacobeth Lepinka, and her 28-year-old son, Kedifentse, have been convicted in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
According to a Hawks’ statement, the mother and son were convicted last Friday on charges relating to accessing top-secret information.
According to Hawks’ spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo, the NPA discovered in 2014 that Lepinka took the laptop containing classified information to her residence without authorisation.
“A case of theft was registered, and the incident was reported to the Hawks’ head office-based serious corruption investigation team. The team tracked the laptop that was utilised by Lepinka’s son, who claimed to own the device,” Mbambo said.
Mbambo added that after a lengthy investigation, the accused were summonsed to appear in court for trial. Jacobeth was found guilty on charges of fraud, unauthorised access to information, and unauthorised disclosure of information, while Kedifentse was convicted for unauthorised access to information.
The pair are to be sentenced on May 16, 2023.
Meanwhile, on the same day, 42-year-old Beauty Kilelo was sentenced by the Kimberley Commercial Crimes Court, where she was found guilty of fraud and money laundering.
"Between January 2011 and December 2016, ghost workers were created at Sol Plaatjie Municipality in Kimberley. Various bank accounts which belonged to people not employed by the municipality were used by municipal officials to defraud the municipality," said a Hawks statement.
According to the statement, an investigation done by Hawks Commercial Crime Investigation members uncovered that Kilelo had captured and authorised suspicious salary payments.
"The municipality suffered a loss of R778 864.54 as a result. The accused was relieved of her duties after an internal investigation. The accused implicated other municipal officials in her testimony during trial, and that resulted in another docket being opened for further investigation," added the statement.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Tebogo Thebe said that the accused was ordered to repay the municipality's total loss, which is R778 864.54.
"The court sentenced the accused to 16 years of imprisonment wholly suspended for 5 years on the condition that the accused is not convicted of fraud and money laundering during the period of suspension."
"She was further sentenced to house arrest at the address to be determined by the Commissioner of Correctional Service and to 16 hours per month of community service," said the statement.
The Star