Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the former VBS chairperson and mastermind behind the looting of R2 billion of defunct VBS Mutual Bank, has been sentenced to 495 years of direct imprisonment.
Matodzi, 47, was sentenced on Wednesday in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
He has been described as the kingpin of a scheme that robbed pensioners and cash-strapped municipalities of their deposits with the bank.
He was charged with corruption, theft, fraud, money laundering, and a pattern of racketeering activities that culminated in the downfall of VBS Mutual Bank.
Gauteng spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, Katlego Mogale, said Matodzi pleaded guilty to 33 charges and entered into a plea agreement with the State.
He was sentenced to 15 years on each count.
“Although the combined sentence amounts to 495 years, the court has ordered that the sentences for count two to 33, to run concurrently with count one. Consequently, Mr Matodzi will serve an effective 15 years imprisonment. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm,” said Mogale.
Matodzi was charged alongside former VBS CEO Andile Ramavhunga, former treasurer Phophi Mukhobdobwane, KPMG auditor Sipho Malaba, Lieutenant-General Avhashoni Ramikosi, a non-executive director, and Ernest Nesane and Paul Magula, who both represented the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) on the VBS board as non-executive directors.
Meanwhile, VBS former chief financial officer Phillip Truter, turned State witness and testified against all the accused.
Truter admitted that he was part of a group of people who were involved in the theft of VBS Mutual Bank funds.
In 2020, Truter was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three years suspended.
In 2021, seven additional men and one woman deemed to be instrumental to the three-year looting spree at VBS Mutual Bank were arrested.
They include ANC Limpopo leader Danny Msiza, ANC-linked ‘businessman’ Kabelo Matsepe, pastor and former COO of VBS Robert Madzonga, a senior VBS bank manager and three fixers.
In May, the former ANC Limpopo provincial treasurer Msiza and Matsepe, formerly an ANC Youth League boss in the province, had demanded that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) provide them with “further particulars” in their case.
Matsepe and Msiza approached the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, as they were unhappy with the particulars that the NPA had provided them and brought an application to compel prosecutors to furnish them with full and better particulars to enable them to prepare for trial and formulate his defence.
In April, Judge Peter Mabuse dismissed their application.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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