Former CEO jailed for corruption
A formerCEO who financially ruined the company Martin and East, trading as Tiffany Construction was effectively jailed for 10 years on multiple charges of corruption and money laundering.
Jason Hinzelman, 38, started with the company as the contracts manager and rapidly rose to the position of chief executive.
He appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg on Wednesday.
The matter took the form of a plea bargain, negotiated by lawyers Koos Smit and Ed Booth, with senior State advocate Simone Liedeman, the prosecutor.
Hinzelman was effectively sentenced to 10 years on 198 counts of corruption, taken as one for the purpose of sentence. The corruption happened between July 2008 and September 2011.
He was also jailed for an additional 10 years for money laundering, but the court ordered that the two sentences run concurrently, which meant an effective 10 years all told.
According to the plea bargain document, he selected three sub-contractors who billed the company for amounts suggested by Henzelman, which included “kickbacks” for himself amounting to R4,657,880.
According to the document, he abused a position of trust, and caused the company and staff “complete financial ruin”.
Thirty five long-term staff were retrenched and their retrenchment packages added further financial strain to the company.
The prosecutor listed these as aggravating factors, as well as the fact that offences involved premeditation.