/ 6 December 2016

John Block gets 15-year jail term for money laundering, corruption

Northern Cape ANC leader John Block.
Northern Cape ANC leader John Block.

Former Northern Cape ANC chairperson John Block and the former chief executive of Trifecta Holdings, Christo Scholts, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption and money laundering, News24 reported on Tuesday.

Block and Scholts were found guilty of the charges last year and were accused alongside Northern Cape social development MEC Alvin Botes in the multimillion-rand fraud, corruption and money laundering case. Botes was found not guilty of all charges.

The fourth accused, former head of department for social development Yolanda Botha, reportedly died in December 2014 after being diagnosed with skin cancer that later spread to her brain.

Block, Botha and Botes had been accused of receiving kickbacks from Scholtz between 2006 and 2010, in return for influencing provincial departments directly or indirectly to rent office space at inflated rates in Trifecta’s favour, and paying for a bigger space than actually leased.