Lance Benson found guilty

By Bernadette Wolhuter



Durban - The former editor of Gold Circle horse racing publication Parade has been found guilty of misappropriating more than R1 million during his time with the magazine.

Fifty-year-old husband and father of three Lance Benson pleaded guilty in Durban’s specialised commercial crime court to six counts of fraud.

He was sentenced to a four-year prison term, suspended for five years, three years correctional supervision and 2 000 hours of periodical imprisonment, which has to be served at Goodwood Prison in Cape Town over weekends.

Benson was working in Durban at the time he committed the offences, but he now lives in Cape Town.

In terms of the plea bargain agreement with the State, he will also cash in a retirement annuity policy and transfer the funds into Gold Circle’s bank account and pay the company R2 000 each month for five years, starting from October.

According to his plea, read out by Legal Aid lawyer Nonhlanhla Kunene, Benson admitted that when he was with the magazine from 2006 to 2009 he arranged for numerous payments totalling more than R1m to be paid into a bank account he falsely claimed belonged to a distribution and courier company. He forged invoices to show the payments had been in return for services rendered.

The account, in fact, belonged to Benson’s in-laws, as did the company address he provided on the fraudulent invoices. Benson also admitted to having taken various amounts, totalling more than R80 000, from petty cash, for his own use.

Benson admitted to a previous conviction of fraud and theft dating back to 1996 when he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended for five years.

Kunene asked that the court consider that her client’s previous conviction was more than 10 years old.

The Mercury

Wtf! So he,s just a thief and all his fights with the powers amount to nil,cnt wait for racing ppl
to defend another crook

@ soodum:


Even this industry has its Fidentia Brown's, Pule's, Guptagates, Malema's, etc?

And just note how popular Juju was at Marikana! Greater reality is; he's gonna be in Parliament with a good dollop of his 'cadres'!

Every reason to be..... very, very :S!

Y using legal aid lawyer?
Can't he afford a good one?

umlilo Wrote:

---

> @ soodum:
>
>
> Even this industry has its Fidentia Brown's,
> Pule's, Guptagates, Malema's, etc?
>
> And just note how popular Juju was at Marikana!
> Greater reality is; he's gonna be in Parliament
> with a good dollop of his 'cadres'!
>
> Every reason to be..... very, very :S!

Malema are going to be sequestrated by SARS in the next few weeks, that will disqualify him from going to Parliament
the last person JZ want in parliament is M

@JB:



'the last person JZ want in parliament is M'......... for reasons of his own.

agree.

however, that will not stop his EFF from contesting the elections....and the publicity will give them even more votes and clout!

that (the turmoil that will definitely follow) will not be good for all of us!

Eff will easily get a seat in parliment,it only takes 40000 votes

Seems this guy has a history of being a criminal, why only a suspended sentence....:S

Is Lance Benson really going to parliament?

Mac Wrote:

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> Is Lance Benson really going to parliament?


lol.. will fit in there...()

You are sharp this morning Mac

gregbucks Wrote:

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> Seems this guy has a history of being a criminal,
> why only a suspended sentence....:S


yes and it seems he did not learn his lesson the first time