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A military court fined a senior defence force officer R2000 on Monday for having moonlighted in Iraq for four months during his long leave, News24 reported on Tuesday.

It said Lieutenant Colonel Gus Maartens, of 43 SA Brigade, was found guilty on two charges.

Accusations against Maartens included fraud, absence without leave and that he neglected to inform defence information, formerly military information, of his intention to work overseas.

The fraud charge and one of earning a second salary without permission while in the service of the SANDF had to be withdrawn as the two main witnesses could not attend court.

Maartens was accused of, after applying for long leave and the leave being granted, going to work in Iraq.

At that time he had more than 300 days accumulated leave and his application for a voluntary severance package had been recommended.

He had to take leave when the granting of severance packages was postponed.

At a later stage he applied to have his long leave extended and it was initially approved.

By the time the application was turned down, he could not return from Iraq in time. He was absent without leave for 20 days.

The leave policy of the SANDF was changed last year after it became known that soldiers used their long leave to work in Iraq. It became compulsory for soldiers to declare when they were going overseas, even for holiday purposes, the news service said.

Colonel Frances Botha, senior military judge, said Maartens, as a senior officer, had to set an example to others.

The court also had to send a message to other soldiers not to commit similar offences.

The judge found there were mitigating circumstances as Maartens had committed no other offences in his 32 years of military service and that he had been given a merit assessment of higher than 75 percent in the past eight years.