Director is accused of defrauding winemaker

WINEMAKER DGB yesterday accused its former export director of defrauding the company of more than R10m over an eight- year period.

Kobus Terblanche allegedly defrauded Midrand-based DGB — the owner of brands including Douglas Green, Boschendal and Tall Horse — by exploiting his control over export contracts, until 2008, according to charges against him in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The alleged scam, which deceived customers in the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and the Seychelles, poses a risk to the image of SA’s wine industry at a time when it is battling against a strong rand and a global production glut. SA ranked ninth in global production in 2008, with 10,3- million hectolitres, according to the US Wine Institute.

The full extent of the fraud, which took various forms, is also unclear. At yesterday’s hearing a preliminary charge sheet only was presented, in which fraud of R10,3m was alleged.

“I reckon we haven’t even got to the tip of iceberg,” said Brian van Zyl, DGB’s attorney.

In one instance detailed in the charge sheet, Mr Terblanche and his co-accused, wife Corné, created Bacco Trading, which looked like an Italian company — meaning it was exempt from value-added tax in SA — and diverted orders made to DGB by Dutch customer Wijntransport through the “Italian” company.

Bacco bought the wine at a reduced price from DGB and resold it to the Dutch customer. In other instances detailed in the charge sheet, another company created by the accused sold wine purportedly from DGB to Wijntransport that it had, in fact, obtained from elsewhere, meaning DGB did not benefit from the export order.

The Terblanches were not asked to plead yesterday.

Mr van Zyl said he suspected the Terblanches planned to leave the country permanently, a claim Christie Villiers, attorney for the Terblanches, said was “nonsense”. “He (Mr Terblanche) was working abroad and obviously if he was going back, he was going to work there. This is their country.”

Mr Terblanche was granted bail of R50000 and Ms Terblanche R25000.