By: Kelvin Chiringa
The time has now come for Isak Serfontein to face his music in a N$17 million fraud case which has already claimed the scalp of his ex-wife, Stephanie who got slapped with an eight year sentence.
Serfontein has obdurately denied charges against him which stem from monies that were syphoned from a drilling company where Stephanie worked into his personal account.
What is interesting is that Stephanie pleaded guilty to the fraud and went on to point a dirty finger on Isak by stating that he was the one to open the account into which the funds were channeled.
With Stephanie having accepted her wrongs in the High Court, the case was separated to allow for her sentencing and a continuation of trial for Isak.
He will now be entering court to defend himself on the 23rd of September to the 27th this year and he is currently not on bail, but rather on warning.
He is being represented by Jab Wessels in the matter with lawyer Constance Moyo acting as state prosecutor.
What we know so far
His ex-wife, who last month almost took her life, spooked by the possibility of being shut up in jail, has refused to sink alone.
She has testified that Isak was financially broke and had hobbled from one job to another but failing.
She said they had tried business after business to no avail and he took to alcohol abuse which threw their marriage into the gutter.
Having secured a job with Ferrodrill, she said that she saw a chance of stealing monies of the company and Isak was well aware of it.
Stephanie revealed that she allowed him to open a bank account from which he withdrew thousands, as his life turned from rags to riches by the snap of a finger.
From a broken penniless life, Isak went on to open an office in Eros and could now afford the luxury of flights to South Africa, she revealed.
Yet the money seemed not enough.
Stephanie said by the time she was about to stop her fraud, Isak threatened to spill the beans to her parents, thus forcing her to continue.
“He made huge cash withdrawals, I don’t know what he did with that money. When he opened this account, the reason I allowed him to do this is my marriage was in shambles. I wanted it to work. He said if he had control of the account, he would become a transport broker,” she testified.
