A Cape businessman and his accountant are scheduled to appear in court on Friday for allegedly defrauding SARS out of over R110 million in claims for a fake business.
The men were arrested on Thursday following an investigation by South African Revenue Services in conjunction with police and the Hawks.
It’s alleged the man and his accountant, with links to five businesses, received a total of R110 385 975 in VAT refunds over a period of time.
“They claimed the VAT refunds by submitting fraudulent invoices to SARS on a monthly basis,” says SARS spokesperson Sandile Memela.
“Following an audit, SARS’ investigations confirmed that the invoices were not only false but that all the invoices, on which input VAT were claimed, were shared between three vendors.
“SARS was able to confirm that the suspects did not run a business or purchase goods from suppliers, yet the refunds they had claimed were tantamount to purchases to the value of R823 million.”
Mamela says investigations found that the money claimed from SARS was used to pay bonds on a number of huge properties owned by the men as well as luxury vehicles and for overseas trips and private expenses.
The men who are due to appear at the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court today to face charges of contraventions of Tax and Customs Acts, as well as charges of theft, fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering.