Nicolus Jacobus Nel (47) was sentenced by Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crime Court on 23 August 2021 for charges of fraud.
It is reported that Nel as an employee of DAS Road Transport on 12 August 2015 negotiated the transportation of fertilisers from Durban to Chipata Zambia via a third party transporter, ZN logistics. Nel did not disclose to his employer DAS the fact that he had interests in ZN Logistics, and that he and his family were operating the business which did not have the capability to transport the goods themselves but was only a transport broker.
Nel convinced DAS to pay ZN Transport the full amount of more than R1.2 million upfront before services could be rendered which was of course not the situation. After receipt of the money, Nel through ZN Logistics got various transporters to load the fertiliser and transport to Zambia. ZN then failed to make payments to the transporters timeously and in certain cases no payments were made at all and this caused various transporters to refuse to offload the cargo in Zambia. To rescue the situation, DAS had to make a further payment for the cargo to be offloaded in Zambia.
DAS Logistics lodged a complaint with Gqeberha Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in November 2015 for probing which culminated in Nel’s arrest on 28 October 2019 that is four (4) years after the incident.
Nel after a series of court appearances was convicted and sentenced on 23 August 2021.Nel was given a fine of R50 000 or 3 years’ imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment which was suspended for 5 years provided he did not engage in such fraudulent activities again. A further R306 000 should be paid to DAS logistics as compensation.
The Provincial Head Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the team for such a tremendous success and dedication in uprooting the criminal tendencies in the society.
Nicolus Jacobus Nel (47) was sentenced by Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crime Court on 23 August 2021 for charges of fraud.
It is reported that Nel as an employee of DAS Road Transport on 12 August 2015 negotiated the transportation of fertilisers from Durban to Chipata Zambia via a third party transporter, ZN logistics. Nel did not disclose to his employer DAS the fact that he had interests in ZN Logistics, and that he and his family were operating the business which did not have the capability to transport the goods themselves but was only a transport broker.
Nel convinced DAS to pay ZN Transport the full amount of more than R1.2 million upfront before services could be rendered which was of course not the situation. After receipt of the money, Nel through ZN Logistics got various transporters to load the fertiliser and transport to Zambia. ZN then failed to make payments to the transporters timeously and in certain cases no payments were made at all and this caused various transporters to refuse to offload the cargo in Zambia. To rescue the situation, DAS had to make a further payment for the cargo to be offloaded in Zambia.
DAS Logistics lodged a complaint with Gqeberha Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in November 2015 for probing which culminated in Nel’s arrest on 28 October 2019 that is four (4) years after the incident.
Nel after a series of court appearances was convicted and sentenced on 23 August 2021.Nel was given a fine of R50 000 or 3 years’ imprisonment and a further 5 years imprisonment which was suspended for 5 years provided he did not engage in such fraudulent activities again. A further R306 000 should be paid to DAS logistics as compensation.
The Provincial Head Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the team for such a tremendous success and dedication in uprooting the criminal tendencies in the society.
Source: South African Police Service
