The Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court has convicted a couple on 188 charges of fraud amounting to R23 million.
Wessel Germishuys, 55, was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment, six suspended for an effective eight years.
His wife Maria Germishuys, 52, received eight years, five suspended for an effective three years. She received an addition three years' correctional supervision.
Hawks spokesperson Lloyd Ramovha said: “The pair, who ran Zanco Engineering Services CC and Towers for Africa, conspired and generated fictitious invoices from January 2009 to August 2013.
"They misused an existing invoice discount facility they had with Nedbank through several fraudulent transactions on behalf of non-existent debtors.”
They were arrested following investigations by the Hawks and the bank’s internal forensic probe.
Zanco has been liquidated, resulting in Nedbank receiving about R4.4m.