Fraudster who ‘robbed Peter to pay Paul’ jailed for 15 years

A CARMOL Distributors Ponzi scheme investor, who lost most of his R500 000 outlay, said the 15-year prison sentence handed to the mastermind this week made “no difference” to his life.

“Yes, we realise it was foolish to have believed we would get huge returns on our investments, but what will we get now that he is going to prison?” asked the 69-year-old investor from Sea View, who preferred to have his identity withheld.

Yunus Moolla, 61, appeared before Magistrate Garth Davis in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where he was sentenced to an effective 15 years’ imprisonment on Wednesday.

Moolla pleaded guilty in November to 3 799 counts of fraud and multiple counts of contravening the Banks and Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Moolla’s network of agents wooed investors with returns of up to 8% a month on their investments in dealings involving petroleum products.

It emerged that the scheme raked in nearly R1 billion between January 2011 and February 2015 from investors.

Half of this amount was paid back as dividends to some investors in what was described as the proverbial act of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

The manner in which Moolla operated the scheme was akin to him operating a bank, and those who were able to extract their investments received handsome rewards. Among the Carmol agents who lured investors were clergymen, who were used as conduits to direct some of their congregants to invest in the money-making scheme.

Moolla’s operation eventually ran aground when he was arrested in 2016, after investigations led by the SA Reserve Bank and the SAPS commercial crime unit were mounted.

Natasha Ramkisson-kara, spokesperson for the Kwazulu-natal National Prosecuting Authority, said Moolla had initially pleaded not guilty, but had a change of heart after State Advocate Wendy O’brien led the evidence of 10 witnesses.

During the sentencing hearing, O’brien told the court about the “severe negative consequences” Moolla’s actions had on the investors. Some had parted with their pensions and life savings, while Moolla scored substantial benefits.

The Sea View investor said he had made his investment in 2014 and had been promised a 6% return on his R500 000 outlay.

“I did get some returns for three months, which totalled approximately R100 000. I basically lost about R400 000. It feels like the money has gone up in smoke.”

The investor, who is retired, said he didn’t hate Moolla, even though he had lost a substantial portion of his retirement nest egg. He believed that many investors had suffered more than he had, and some had even died as a result of the heartache from their losses.

“It was a lesson well learnt for me. It was my foolishness, because the promised return was unrealistically high. I am one of those who was bitten once, but it won’t happen again,” the investor vowed.

Kara-ramkisson said: “The NPA lauds the successful finalisation of this matter. We congratulate the prosecution and the various investigating teams on a job well done in holding the accused accountable for his actions.”