A Mpumalanga man was sentenced to three years imprisonment after he was found guilty of defrauding the South African Revenue Service (SARS) over R955,000.
Sipho Andrew Philane was sentenced by the Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Tuesday.
The 62-year-old was found guilty of fraud, theft, money laundering, and contravening the provisions of the Tax Administration Act.
Mpumalanga provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, said that during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, Philane was the director of a company named Sipho Zethu Trading, which was solely registered for the purpose of defrauding SARS.
“The accused provided false information to the SARS PAYE (pay as you earn) tax credits through misrepresentation. The company claimed undue funds from the revenue service, prejudicing and causing an actual and potential loss to the amount of R955,307.56,” she said.
Sekgotodi said the funds were paid into Sipho Zethu Trading business account and they were further diverted into other business bank accounts as well as Philane’s account.
“The investigation further revealed that the accused also purchased a 2005 Mercedes Benz from a dealer with the proceeds of crime.”
Sekgotodi added that after SARS learned about the crime, an amount of R490,000 was frozen and recovered from Philane’s FNB business account.
The court found Philane guilty of contravening the provisions the Tax Administration Act and was fined R300,000 or three face three years in prison.
For money laundering, he was fined R60,000 and one year in prison.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit of the NPA was granted an order to confiscate proceeds gained from the money stolen from SARS.
“The defendant (Philane) must hand over the purchased vehicle, Mercedes Benz and its keys to the enforcement officer employed by SARS, pending the sale of the vehicle by public auction,” Sekgotodi added.
She added that the magistrate ordered that the money recovered from the proceeds should paid back to SARS with 11.25 % interest dating back from December 2014 when the crime was committed.
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