A National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) assistant director and her son (28), have been convicted by the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court for unlawfully being in possession of top-secret information.

Jacobeth Lepinka (52) and her son, Kedifentse (28), were convicted on Friday and will be sentenced on 16 May.

National Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo said: “In 2014, NPA discovered that Lepinka took the laptop with classified information to her place of residence without authorisation.

“A case of theft was registered and the incident reported to the Hawks’ Head Office based Serious Corruption Investigation team for further handling. The investigation commenced and led the team to the laptop that was utilised by Lepinka’s son who claimed to own the device.”

Mbambo said subsequent to a lengthy investigation, the accused were summoned to court where they were tried.

“Jacobeth was found guilty on charges of fraud, unauthorised access to information and unauthorised disclosure of information whereas Kedifentse was convicted for unauthorised access to information,” she said.

Source: South African Government News Agency