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Ace Magashuleâs former bodyguard gets 15 years in jail for stealing Pierneef painting
By Staff Reporter
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Cape Town - ANC secretary-general Ace Magashuleâs former bodyguard has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for stealing an R 8 million painting.
Ricardo Mettler, who was Magashuleâs bodyguard during his term as the Free State premier, was found guilty on four charges relating to the Pierneef painting.
In the Bloemfontein High Court on Wednesday, Judge Soma Naidoo sentenced Mettler to an additional 15 years for money laundering for offering the painting to a Chinese businessman as a guarantee for a loan, said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Mettler stole the painting in March 2018 while helping to vacate the office of Magashule.
He removed the barcode and covered the painting with brown paper. He then offered the painting to Wei-Lun Hsu, for a loan of between R2 million and R3 million.
“Hsu placed the painting in the newspapers to see if someone claimed it. A senior official from the Department of Public Works recognised the painting and contacted Mettler, requesting he return it. Mettler refused and a charge of theft was laid against him,” NPA regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said in a statement.
Mettler will serve 15 years imprisonment after the court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
A court in South Africa on Wednesday sentenced a former bodyguard of South African politician and an anti-apartheid activist, Ace Magashule to 15 years in jail for stealing a painting worth R8 million, over K410 Million.
Ricardo Mettler has also been handed another 15 years for money laundering after he offered the Pierneef painting to a Chinese businessman as a guarantee for a loan.
A statement by the police said: âThe court added another 15 years for fraud. He pretended that the painting was donated to him by Magashule, and that it legally belonged to him. In addition, Judge Naidoo sentenced Mettler to 12 months for making a false statement to the police, in which he said Magashule gave him the painting.â
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