The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Yunus Moolla, 61, to 15 years of direct imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to 3 799 counts of fraud and multiple counts of contravening the Banks and Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said these incidents of fraud happened between January 2011 and February 2015. She said the accused was arrested in 2016 after defrauding 3 799 people of about R500 million.

The NPA said investors were promised that Moolla would use their investments to deal and trade in diesel and petroleum products. Moolla promised investors that they would receive a return of between 2% and 8% per month on their investments, the NPA said. Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said a case docket was allocated to the Durban-based Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit when a case of fraud was reported at the Durban North police station after Moolla recruited people to invest in his company, Carmol Distributors. “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,” said Ramkisson-Kara.

“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 the liquidators have thus far only been able to pay out about 13c to the rand to investors,” said Ramkisson-Kara. Moolla was sentenced to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment. “In sentencing Moolla, the court considered the fact that he had pleaded guilty, his age and his deteriorating health, and took all the counts as one,” said the NPA. The NPA lauded the successful finalisation of this matter. “We congratulate the prosecution and the various investigating teams on a job well done in holding the accused accountable for his actions,” said Ramkisson-Kara.