Jailtime for lawyer who stole shopping centre's lights and water money

An attorney has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court for stealing about R30m.

Gerard du Plessis, 52, was hired by the Brits mall to handle municipal payments on behalf of the centre from February 2017, said the Hawks in the North West.

“Instead of making the monthly payments as agreed, he ... pocketed the money and supplied fictitious receipts to the manager of the mall.”

Capt Tlangelani Rikhotso said his deceit came to light when “ the water and lights for the mall were suddenly switched off by the municipality”.

Du Plessis was arrested in February 2018 in Brits and released on R50,000 bail. He made a series of court appearances, before being found guilty on 22 counts of theft. He was sentenced this week.