Ponzi scheme mastermind Goodman Goqo, who was arrested in January 2012, has been convicted and sentenced to an effective eight years in jail for defrauding more than 4,000 people out of R75m.
The Michaelhouse Old Boy, who is now 49, has appeared in court hundreds of times, the case being adjourned on multiple occasions by him changing lawyers or being “sick”.
He was on bail for most of the almost 14 years it took for his case to finalise, but since being convicted by Pinetown regional court magistrate Stanley Hlophe earlier this year he has been in custody.
Hlophe convicted him of:
- 4,111 counts of fraud;
- 4,111 counts of contraventions of the Banks Act for conducting the business of a bank without being registered; and
- contraventions of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act for providing financial services while not registered.
On Friday Hlophe sentenced Goqo to eight years for fraud, ruling the sentences for the other crimes — five years and three years respectively — run concurrently with that.
The trial began before Hlophe in 2018.
Goqo pleaded not guilty.
He ran his business, Ingede Mineral Holdings, from an office in Crooked Lane, Hillcrest.
The main investigation was done by forensic auditor Eckhard Volker, who has since died.
Volker was appointed by the Reserve Bank to take control of the company to find the money given to Goqo by “investors”.
The state, through senior prosecutor Hazel Siraramen, alleged Goqo and Ingede acted as a bank, promising investors he was investing their money on the stock exchange and offering them a return of 30% monthly interest over six months.
Instead, the state argued, he used the money for his own purposes, splashing out on luxury cars, expensive watches and clothing.
Most of the 4,000 people who collectively “invested” R76m in his scheme did not get any of their money back.
On Friday Goqo called a witness in mitigation of sentence. Malibonge Cele said he had known Goqo since school and had mentored him. He said should the court sentence Goqo to a fine, he would be willing to sell a property to pay it. But the magistrate said this would not serve as punishment for Goqo.
Goqo had a previous conviction for fraud and had been given an R8,000 fine for that. Within two years of that, he had again committed fraud, leading to this matter. It was clear the fine had not been a deterrent, Hlophe said.
However, he found substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for fraud. These were that Goqo:
- had hypertension;
- was the sole breadwinner; and
- had a one-year-old child.
A fine was not appropriate, said Hlophe, given that Goqo was in a position of trust and many of his victims had not recovered financially. The community would lose confidence in the criminal justice system if such a lenient sentence was given.
Goqo has indicated he will apply for leave to appeal and this has been set down for argument in October by the state and the defence.
TimesLIVE
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