The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has lost almost R51-million in income tax refund fraud because of duplicate company registration, according to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
In a written parliamentary question to Gordhan, Marius Swart of the Democratic Alliance asked what amount of money Sars lost in cases where employees of the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) duplicated companies on the database in the 2008/09 financial year.
In his reply, Gordhan said Sars had only detected two cases where this type of fraudulent activity took place.
"These cases reveal that Sars has lost a total of R50 949 743.80 in income tax refund fraud as a result of duplicate companies registered at Cipro," he said.
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The companies were SBC International Management Services (R31 600 946.89 lost) and Sun Microsystems (R19 348 796.91 lost).
"In relation to the above cases, the kingpin has already been arrested through cooperation of SAPS (SA Police Service) and Sars."
Bail had also been successfully opposed in both the magistrates' court proceedings and in the high court on appeal.
Further investigations were underway and Sars, SAPS, and the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) were in the process of recovering the losses.
The amounts were uncovered as a result of Sars' own checks and balances.
The exact amounts were known because of thorough investigations, Gordhan said. - Sapa
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