Cape Town – A divorced father who faced a minimum sentence of 15 years for a scam involving the fraudulent purchase of luxury cars, got away with house arrest instead, as well as a 10-year suspended jail sentence on Wednesday.
Riedewaan Jardien, 43, of Moorhen Road, Pelican Park in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
The proceedings took the form of a plea bargain, negotiated between defence attorney F Kenny and prosecutor Denzyl Combrink.
Court papers said Jardien was not the mastermind in the scam, but the scapegoat – or the “runner”, as such a person is known in the motor trade.
This, as well as the fact that he has undertaken to testify against the alleged mastermind, Nafiz Modack, was regarded as substantial and compelling reason to let him off the hook with the minimum sentence.
The court papers say Jardien was approached by Modack to open bank accounts in Jardien’s name, and to purchase two luxury cars, the one after the other, with bank financing obtained by fraudulent means.
The first car was an Audi RS4 Avant Quattro Stronic costing R1 023 388, for monthly repayments of R19 135, and the second a Toyota Hilux 3.OD-4D Raider 4×4 worth R550 889, for R12 343 per month.
Both cars were for Modack’s use.
The bank accounts were in Jardien’s name but the bank cards and pin numbers were under Modack’s control. In his applications for financing, Jardien stated falsely that he was a project manager earning a monthly salary of R80 200, which persuaded the banks that he could afford the monthly payments.
For his part in the scam, Jardien was paid a R10 000 “kickback”.
In addition to the kickback, Jardien was promised that his credit record would be restored, which would enable him to start his own business – but this did not materialise.
In addition to his sentence, Jardien also had to immediately surrender his kickback to the Asset Forfeiture Unit, in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca.)
African News Agency