A former employee of the Elias Motsoaledi Municipality in Limpopo was found guilty of defrauding the South African Revenue Service (SARS) of almost R1.7 million by the Mankweng Regional Court on Wednesday.
In 2010, Evans Setshedi, 41, submitted fraudulent tax returns to SARS on behalf of the municipality, said police spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke.
The money was approved and deposited into his personal bank account, instead of the municipality account.
Setshedi made several withdrawals and bank authorities became suspicious.
During a verification process, it was established that the account number did not belong to the municipality and that he used another person's particulars to open the account.
The bank authorities notified the police and Setshedi was arrested.
Setshedi was convicted and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, of which four years were suspended for five years.
He will effectively serve four years in jail.