ACE’ JELE GOING BACK TO PRISON

Charles ‘Ace’ Jele during a previous court appearance. (File pic)

MBABANE – It’s back to jail for former SRNAC General Manager Charles ‘Ace’ Jele.
SRNAC is an acronym for Swaziland Royal National Airways Corporation, now known as Eswatini Royal National Airways Corporation.

The Supreme Court yesterday made a few changes in the judgment that was issued by Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza, who sentenced Jele to five years imprisonment without an option of a fine.  The former football administrator was out on bail pending his appeal.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court said: “The accused is sentenced to five years imprisonment without the option of a fine, two years of which is suspended for two years on condition that he repays the sum of E105 196.94 to the complainant through the registrar of the High Court.”

The appeal was before Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala, Judge Robert Cloete and Judge Benjamin Odoki.

Sentence

“The bail monies in the sum of E30 000 paid by the appellant (Jele) be released by the registrar of the High Court to the complainant immediately upon the appellant recommencing the prison sentence,” reads part of the judgment.
The court further ordered that should the appellant fail to pay the balance of E75 196.94 by September 12, 2023, he is to be arrested and placed in custody in order to serve the suspended two years.

It was further the Supreme Court’s order that: “If by that time he has not paid this amount in full, but has repaid a portion of it, the suspended sentence which the accused will serve, will be in proportion to the amount that the accused has actually paid.”
Principal Judge Mabuza had also suspended two years of the sentence for a period of the same number of years on condition that he repaid the amount of E414 781.84, which he stole from his former employer.

The principal judge had ordered Jele (60), who admitted to stealing the money, to pay back it back on or before September 12, 2021.

The High Court had directed that if Jele failed to compensate his former employer by the aforementioned date, he should be arrested and placed in custody to serve the suspended two years.

The principal judge further ordered that Jele’s bail amount of E30 000 be released to him.
In his appeal, Jele had argued that the court erred both in fact and in law by failing to consider that his pension had already been withheld by his former employer as repayments of the monies he misappropriated.

 According to Jele, the trial court allegedly misdirected itself to order him to compensate the complainant a sum of E414 781.84. Jele faced four counts of theft involving various sums of money ranging from E13 736.74 to E321 965.10.  The offences were committed between 2006 and 2009. Jele was convicted on July 31, 2018.

Principal Judge Mabuza said crimes involving employees stealing from their employers had become prevalent. She mentioned that Jele abused the position of trust that he occupied.

“The amount of E414 781.84 may seem small, but the complainant suffered prejudice as a result of the accused’s theft. What is most disturbing is that he was the chief executive officer at his place of employment, which meant that because of his senior position, he was completely trusted when entrusted with the custody and care of his employer’s money,” said the court.

Offences

According to the principal judge, the fact that Jele was put in a position of trust by his then employer, was an aggravating fact that such offences disclosed repeated breaches of trust between employers and employees.
The court further stated that Jele enjoyed a position of respect and esteem in the community as CEO and as a result, high standards were expected  of people in his then position.

Principal Judge Mabuza said despite that the offences were committed as far back as 2006; the court had not been told why it took so long to detect the theft.

Jele was represented by Derrick Jele of Robinson Bertram while appearing for the Crown was Principal Crown Counsel Thabo Dlamini from the chamber of the director of public prosecutions.

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