Pinetown court upholds conviction of Ponzi scheme mastermind Nsikayomuzi Goqo
The Pinetown Regional Court on Tuesday morning dismissed the appeal against both the conviction and the sentence for Nsikayomuzi Goqo, the mastermind behind the Ingede Mineral Holdings Ponzi Scheme. Goqo had defrauded thousands of individuals of over R70 million between 2009 and 2010.
Goqo was recently sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment after facing over 4,000 charges, including fraud and contraventions of the Banks Act. He operated his company from Hillcrest, luring more than 4,000 investors with the promise of a 30% interest over six months on stock exchange investments, using Ingede Mineral to orchestrate the fraudulent scheme.
Through his lawyer, advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa, Goqo argued that the court was influenced by anger during sentencing. He also contended that the court erred in his conviction, claiming the State failed to account for R5m withdrawn from his frozen bank account in early 2010.
However, magistrate Sphiwe Hlophe stated that Goqo had received a fair trial. The magistrate expressed shock that the defence was raising issues of an incomplete record at this stage and reminded the court that the Reserve Bank had found Ingede’s operation, owned by Goqo, to be unlawful.
“There is direct evidence linking Goqo. He was the director of Ingede Mineral and was listed as a signatory with the bank,” magistrate Hlophe said.
He added that the State, led by senior prosecutor advocate Hazel Siraramen, had established a prima facie case.
“Application for appeal on conviction for these reasons is refused,” he concluded.
Regarding the sentence, magistrate Hlophe asserted that the court had been lenient, even running some sentences concurrently.
“Some of the fraud counts were read with a 15 year minimum prescribed sentence. This court found substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate. The court was very lenient in this regard,” he said.
Goqo’s appeal was denied in his absence. His lawyer, Mlotshwa, requested that the ruling be delivered in absentia after proceedings started and Goqo had not been brought to court, following failed attempts by the State to inquire about his absence. Goqo’s relatives later updated him on the court’s decision.
nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za