One-time controversial politician, Amichand Rajbansi’s middle-aged son, Vimal Amichand Rajbansi, has been sentenced to an effective jail term of eight years after he and a fellow businessman, Gideon Pretorius, were convicted for fraud totaling R3.1million.
Rajbansi and Pretorius, both aged 51, appeared before the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday. In court, Magistrate Judy Naidoo, took into account the businessmen’s age, failing health and the fact that they were first-time offenders and deviated from giving the pair the minimum 15-year imprisonment sentence. Rajbansi, of Shannon Drive in Reservoir Hills, Durban, is the only son of Amichand Rajbansi, who founded the Minority Front to represent the Indian community during the apartheid era.
This is how Senior State Advocate Nevas Heeralall presented the State’s case against Rajbansi and Pretorius: The lead advocate set the scene for the successful prosecution with evidence from several witnesses, and as well the complainant, Paul Buckle, CEO of Merchant West, who appealed to the court to issue the Section 300 order. Buckle pointed out how the fraud committed by North West province businessman, Pretorius, and Rajbansi had collapsed his business franchise when his finances were severely impacted after his company was defrauded.
Buckle told the court that the franchise of the Merchant West Group was a thriving business when the fraudulent transaction was detected in January 2011. The saga began in November 2010 when Rajbansi and Pretorius approached the complainant who ran a company called, Merchant West KZN, to provide finances to pay for office equipment amounting to R3.1 million for Ditona Construction, Pretorius’s company. The deal was transacted through Rajbansi’s company, Brainwave Projects. Based on an invoice generated by Brainwave Projects, with serial numbers of the equipment, Merchant provided R3.1million to finance the purchase. he court heard that the equipment had already been purchased and financed by another company, Rentworks. Then Ditona went into liquidation, resulting in Merchant claiming the assets the company had financed in a bid to avoid the equipment being listed in the liquidation.
It then emerged that the assets had already belonged to Rentworks and that Merchant had handed over R3.1million to Pretorius and Rajbansi. After they were convicted and received an effective eight years each behind bars, Rajbansi’s company, Brainwave Projects, was fined R500 000, suspended for five years with conditions. The court further ordered Pretorius and Rajbansi to compensate the victim for R1-million in terms of Section 300 of Act 51 of 1977 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which Merchant pleaded for in evidence. In defending Rajbansi in earlier hearings, Advocate Jay Naidoo stated that there were substantial and compelling reasons why Rajbansi should not be imprisoned, and submitted a medical report from Dr Terrance Govender that outlined the chronic condition of the accused, who suffered from a hypertensive condition and cardiac and gastroenteritis and spinal problems. “Naidoo said the father of three minor children was separated from his wife, and the children lived with their biological mother, and that Rajbansi was a second-hand car salesman and still sold office equipment. Reacting after the sentencing, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in KZN said: “The NPA welcomes the prosecution and the successful finalization of this matter.’’
