A former attorney and conveyancer from Strand received a hefty 55-year sentence for various counts of fraud and theft.
Rugaya van der Schyff (57) was sentenced on Thursday (30 March) by the Bellville Serious Commercial Crimes Court on 48 charges ranging from fraud and money laundering to theft.
Zinzi Hani, spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) in the Western Cape, says this comes after Van der Schyff’s second arrest on Thursday 20 October last year by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team on charges of fraud and theft worth R500 000.
She was first arrested in 2019 by the same team for misappropriating trust funds to the value of R4,8 million and was subsequently released on R20 000 bail.
In 2017, Van der Schyff was struck off the roll of attorneys by the Western Cape High Court following an interdict application that was lodged the year before.
The Hawks’ investigation showed she continued facilitating offers to purchase several properties from 2019 to date, after her banning from practising as an attorney by the Western Cape High Court.
The misappropriation was done in Van der Schyff’s professional capacity in the context of due diligence and care in the transfer of properties with the Registrar of Deeds.
Van der Schyff was sentenced to a combined 10 years’ imprisonment for two counts of money laundering, four years’ imprisonment for contravening the Legal Practice Act (LPA) 28 of 2014.
“Moreover,” Hani said, “she was sentenced to another 10 years for nine counts of fraud and a further 18 for four additional counts of fraud, suspended for five years with conditions.
“On 30 counts of theft the former attorney was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, while an additional three years’ imprisonment was suspended for five years on an additional count of theft. The court ordered all sentences imposed should be served concurrently. Van der Schyff will effectively serve 10 years’ direct imprisonment.”
