A National Prosecuting Authority assistant director and her son were recently sentenced by the Pretoria magistrate’s court after being convicted of fraud and unlawful access to and disclosure of data.
The Hawks said in 2014, the NPA discovered that Jacobeth Lepinka, 52, had taken a laptop with classified information home without authorisation.
“A case of theft was registered and the incident was reported to the Hawks’ head office for further handling.
“The investigation commenced and led the team to the laptop that was utilised by Lepinka’s son [Kedifentse Lepinka,28] who claimed to own the device,” Hawks spokesperson Col Philani Nkwalase said on Friday.
After a lengthy investigation, the accused were summoned to court and tried.
Jacobeth Lepinka was mentioned in the state capture inquiry by former Bosasa CFO Angelo Agrizzi as one of the NPA officials who allegedly leaked confidential documents relating to investigations into Bosasa.
When Agrizzi testified at the commission, he alleged he and the late Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson made monthly payments to former correctional services commissioner Linda Mti.
Agrizzi alleged Mti was supposed to pass other sums of money to former acting national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba and two other officials in the NPA.
Agrizzi said he was not present when the bribes were allegedly made by Mti to Jiba, her NPA colleague, former specialised commercial crimes unit head Lawrence Mrwebi and Jiba’s secretary Jacobeth Lepinka.
However, the commission said in its report that Agrizzi’s evidence with regard to the alleged payment of bribes to, and the provision of confidential documents and information by Jiba, Mrwebi and Lepinka was hearsay.
The commission said there were certain aspects of Jiba’s and Lepinka’s versions of events that were of concern.
The report said one of the documents provided by Agrizzi to Mti was an email addressed by Lepinka, dated November 22 2012, in which Lepinka spoke on behalf of the acting national director of public prosecutions, who at the time would have been Jiba.
The commission said Lepinka wrote that Jiba said of the Bosasa investigation that “the matter has been investigated for many years and from the submitted reports it is clear there is no evidence and or prospect of a successful prosecution”.
Nkwalase said in February, the court found Lepinka guilty of fraud, unauthorised access to information and unauthorised disclosure of information while her son Kedifentse was convicted of unauthorised access to information.
On July 14, Nkwalase said, Lepinka was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for fraud, wholly suspended for five years on condition she not be found guilty of fraud or any offence of dishonesty.
“She was further ordered to pay the NPA R5,700 for the laptop. She was also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for unlawful disclosure, wholly suspended for five years on condition that she will not be found guilty of contravening the NPA Act,” he said.
Nkwalase said both Lepinka and her son were also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for unlawful access to classified information, wholly suspended for five years.
TimesLIVE
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