Gerrit Erasmus tried to fleece Standard Bank through a multimillion-rand bond application.
CAPE TOWN – A Cape Town pensioner has been sentenced for fraud in the Cape Town Regional Court.
Gerrit Erasmus, 62, was convicted and sentenced on Thursday.
According to the spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Zinzi Hani, Erasmus tried to fleece Standard Bank through a multimillion-rand bond application.
She said Erasmus applied for a home loan worth R19 million from the financial institution in June 2019.
“He was using false credentials, including an identity document.
“The Cape Town Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team was alerted and he was immediately arrested,” Hani said.
She said that, after a plea agreement, the court sentenced Erasmus to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years on condition he is not found guilty of fraud and theft during this period.
Erasmus has also been placed under correctional supervision for the next three years.
In an unrelated incident, a 39-year-old man appeared in the Amanzimtoti Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday after being arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a post office.
The robbers entered the post office and used an axe to smash the counter glass to gain access to the money.
The robbers stole more than R100,000 before fleeing in a black Nissan Navara.
The vehicle was spotted in Umbumbulu by ET Rapid Response members. The robbers fired at the security guards, who retaliated and shot and killed one of the robbers and arrested the other.
An undisclosed amount of cash and an axe were recovered at the scene.
ANA
