Bulls high-performance manager jailed in South Africa

One of the darkest periods in the Bulls’ storied history came to a head, on Friday. It was confirmed that Xander Janse van Rensburg, the former High-Performance Manager of the Bulls, has been found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail.

This follows after the union had brought criminal charges against him for fraud and theft. The case, which dragged out for the last two years, came to a head in the Pretoria commercial crimes court on Friday – when magistrate Martin van Wyk handed down the sentence.

In a plea deal, Janse van Rensburg pleaded guilty to 13 counts of fraud.

Apart from the three-year prison sentence, effective immediately, there is also an additional five-year sentence – which was suspended for five years.

Janse van Rensburg was also ordered to repay more than ZAR500 000 to the Blue Bulls Company – with ZAR200 000 due to be paid by December 14.

The Blue Bulls Company launched a forensic investigation into Van Rensburg’s activities and then filed the criminal charges.

According to South African media reports Janse van Rensburg demanded – and reportedly receiving – a ZAR60 000 payment from a current BBC employee to be reappointed in his position.

There was also a ZARR1-million tender awarded to a guesthouse that belongs to one of his family members, kickback payments made to players and their agents and paying a schoolboy ZAR1-million to join the union.

It is also reported that he paid for beverages at his wedding and other personal functions with money from the union’s bank accounts without authorisation.

There were also purchases of equipment – like camera lenses, drones and a stack of clothing from a Japanese company – with BBC money, but none of it was ever in the union’s possession.

- Rugby 365