Chartered Accountant Sentenced to 30 Years for Stealing from Clients

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR STEALING FROM CLIENTS

The Gqeberha Commercial Crimes Court sentenced a chartered accountant, Jonathan Blow (52) to an effective 22 years imprisonment, after convicting him on two counts of theft amounting to more than R52 million. The court sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment on each count of theft, but Magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani ordered eight years for one count to run concurrently with the sentence for another charge. Blow, who was the sole director of PE Accounting Solutions (PEAS),  which was appointed to provide accounting services for two SuperSpar entities, one in Gqeberha and the other in Despatch, pleaded guilty when he realised that the prosecution had overwhelming evidence against him.

 In his plea explanation, Blow admitted that since 2012, PEAS was appointed as accountants of Despatch Superspar, rendering accounting, payroll, and creditor payment services every month for an agreed fee. To effectively render the services, he required and was given full access and administrative rights to the business’s trading bank accounts. From 11 September 2022 to 10 March 2022, in addition to the fees for which he had invoiced Despatch Superspar, he admitted to having unlawfully transferred amounts totalling R11,4 million from the entity’s trading accounts to PEAS.  He only made 24 repayments to Dispatch Superspar amounting to R4,9 million and pocketed R6,5 million. 

PEAS has been providing its services to Sunridge Park Superspar since 1999. Using the same modus operandi, Blow transferred a total of R40,5 million from the client’s accounts to PEAS during the period between 03 July 2020 and 19 September 2022. He made repayments totaling R16,3 million, and the client suffered a loss of R24,2 million. The state argued that it was not repayments, but Blow did this in order not to get caught out. Blow blamed his crimes on his gambling habit. The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit could only salvage R1.8 million from Blow who had used some of the stolen money to buy shares in Spar at Kariega.
 
In aggravation of the sentence, the State Advocate, Lise Keech called both brothers, Paul, and Peter Barnes, who owned the two businesses from which Blow stole. They told the court how they have suffered and are still suffering from the effects of Blow, whom they had considered as a brother and friend. 

The Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo and the Barnes brothers commended the prosecutor, investigating team and AFU for ensuring that justice is served, and the white-collar criminal is punished accordingly.  

Kind regards,

Luxolo Tyali
NPA Regional Spokesperson
Eastern Cape Division
Tel: 0475012630
Cell: 0735559292