A former bookkeeper who stole nearly R2 million from the Aurora Special Care Centre in Port Elizabeth was sentenced in the Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old Johannes Gieselbach was sentenced to eight years in prison and was ordered to pay back an amount of R986 706.96.
Gieselbach earlier pleaded guilty on 168 counts of theft totalling R1 907 492.30
He substituted the banking details of Aurora's creditors and suppliers with his own during his time as a bookkeeper at Aurora between January 2016 and the 25th of June 2019.
Subsequently, in order not to get caught, Gieselbach, on various occasions paid Aurora's creditors an amount of nearly R700 000 during the same period, bringing the "actual" loss to the centre to just over R1.2 million.
