After being accused of stealing more than R52m from two major retail stores in Nelson Mandela Bay, disgraced former chartered accountant Jonathan Blow will spend almost another month in custody before he returns to court.
Blow, who made a brief appearance in the Gqeberha commercial crimes court on Tuesday, faces two counts of theft and is expected back in the dock in early September.
It is alleged Blow, 51, appointed by a SPAR in Despatch and a SuperSPAR in Sunridge Park to manage their books, siphoned off millions between July 2020 and September 2022 to feed his alleged online gambling habit.
The father of two dependent adult daughters was arrested on March 17, four days after he received a British ancestral visa and shortly after placing his two Walmer properties on the market.
A qualified chartered accountant, Blow closed his business, PE Accounting Solutions (PEAS) in February, but had allegedly still been offering tax-related services.
He was denied bail in the city’s magistrate’s court following his arrest by the Hawks and lost an application to appeal against the decision not to release him from custody, with judge Vuyokasi Noncembu agreeing with magistrate Thembakazie Mlindazwe that Blow posed a flight risk and could interfere with state witnesses or tamper with evidence.
According to the state, between September 11 2020 and March 10 2022, in addition to the fees for which he had invoiced Despatch SuperSPAR, Blow allegedly unlawfully made 105 transactions amounting to R11,478,350 from the store’s trading accounts to the bank account of his business.
It is further alleged that between July 2020 and September 2022, he siphoned off more than R40m from the Sunridge SuperSPAR.
During his initial bail application, it emerged Blow allegedly had a gambling addiction and had spent a large sum of money on it.
At the time Blow claimed he had paid back a portion of the amounts stolen and had signed over his 50% share in the Levyvale SPAR in Kariega to the owners of the other two SPAR outlets he had allegedly stole from.
His case was postponed to September 6 for merits consultation.
HeraldLIVE